African American Quotes

I have written a song that says: If you ever lose someone dear to you, never say the words, "They're gone," and they'll come back.

The thing to do is to get organized; keep separated and you will be exploited, you will be robbed, you will be killed. Get organized and you will compel the world to respect you.

If you can be the best, then why not try to be the best?

We have to talk about liberating minds as well as liberating society.

No individual has any right to come into the world and go out of it without leaving behind him distinct and legitimate reasons for having passed through it.

There must always be a remedy for wrong and injustice if we only know how to find it.

Never wound a snake; kill it.

Religion without humanity is very poor human stuff.

You don't make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas.

It is extremely rough to follow through with my goals, but I felt a responsibility to show the world what the African Americans are facing through this rough patch.

It is better to be prepared for an opportunity and not have one than to have an opportunity and not be prepared.

I saw that the camera could be a weapon against poverty, against racism, against all sorts of social wrongs. I knew at that point I had to have a camera.

If a race has no history, if it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated.

We have a wonderful history behind us. ... If you are unable to demonstrate to the world that you have this record, the world will say to you, 'You are not worthy to enjoy the blessings of democracy or anything else'.

Somebody once said we never know what is enough until we know what's more than enough.

If we have the courage and tenacity of our forebears, who stood firmly like a rock against the lash of slavery, we shall find a way to do for our day what they did for theirs.

One of the things that has to be faced is the process of waiting to change the system, how much we have got to do to find out who we are, where we have come from and where we are going.

Don't let the same dog bite you twice.

The colour of the skin is in no way connected with strength of the mind or intellectual powers.

I early conceived a liking for, and sought every opportunity to relieve the sufferings of others.

There's not an American in this country free until every one of us is free.

Ain't no sense worryin' about the things you got control over, 'cause if you got control over 'em, ain't no sense worryin'. And ain't no sense worryin' about the things you don't got control over, 'cause if you don't got control over 'em, ain't no sense worryin'.

You just need to be a flea against injustice. Enough committed fleas biting strategically can make even the biggest dog uncomfortable and transform even the biggest nation.

I'm not going to sit at your table and watch you eat, with nothing on my plate, and call myself a diner. Sitting at the table doesn't make you a diner.

Don't take yourself too seriously. Know when to laugh at yourself, and find a way to laugh at obstacles that inevitably present themselves.