Cease to be a drudge, seek to be an artist.
When they learn of Shakespeare and Goethe, we must teach them of Pushkin and Dumas. . . . Whatever the white man has done, we have done, and often better.
I never stop to plan. I take things step-by-step.
From the first, I made my learning, what little it was, useful every way I could.
For I am my mother's daughter, and the drums of Africa still beat in my heart.
I thought, maybe the difference between white folks and colored is just this matter of reading and writing. I made up my mind I would know my letters.
I have had more than half a century of such happiness. A great deal of worry and sorrow, too, but never a worry or a sorrow that was not offset by a purple iris, a lark, a bluebird, or a dewy morning glory.
There is a place in God's sun for the youth "farthest down" who has the vision, the determination, and the courage to reach it.
I do feel, in my dreamings and yearnings, so undiscovered by those who are able to help me.
Greatness is largely a social accident, and almost always socially supported.
Whatever the white man has done, we have done, and often better.
Whatever glory belongs to the race for a development unprecedented in history for the given length of time, a full share belongs to the womanhood of the race.
You white folks have long been eating the white meat of the chicken. We Negroes are now ready for some of the white meat instead of the dark meat.
[To the patronizing train conductor who had twice said, 'Auntie, give me your ticket':] Which of my sister's sons are you?
