Strive for that greatness of spirit that measures life not by its disappointments but by its possibilities.

The worker must work for the glory of his handiwork, not simply for pay; the thinker must think for truth, not for fame.

Progress in human affairs is more often a pull than a push, a surging forward of the exceptional man, and the lifting of his duller brethren slowly and painfully to his vantage-ground.

If there is anybody in this land who thoroughly believes that the meek shall inherit the earth they have not often let their presence be known.

Nothing in the world is easier in the United States than to accuse a black man of crime.

I believe that all men, black and brown, and white, are brothers, varying, through Time and Opportunity, in form and gift and feature, but differing in no essential particular, and alike in soul and in the possibility of infinite development.

Whether you like it or not the millions are here, and here they will remain. If you do not lift them up, they will pull you down... Education must not simply teach work - it must teach life.