The actual sight of a first-class house that a Negro has built is ten times more potent than pages of discussion about a house that he ought to build, or perhaps could build.
Booker T. WashingtonRead
Decide to be your best. In the long run the world is going to want and have the best and that might as well be you.
Interpretation
Choose to strive for excellence, as the world ultimately seeks the best.
This quote emphasizes the importance of self-improvement and striving for one's best potential. Booker T. Washington suggests that by committing to excellence, individuals can position themselves as the best candidates in a world that increasingly values quality and capability.
In practice
In a career development workshop to encourage participants to strive for excellence.
The actual sight of a first-class house that a Negro has built is ten times more potent than pages of discussion about a house that he ought to build, or perhaps could build.
Leaders have devoted themselves to politics, little knowing, it seems _x000D_ that political independence disappears without economic independence _x000D_ that economic independence is the foundation of political independence.
You go to school, you study about the Germans and the French, but not about your own race. I hope the time will come when you study black history too.
Nothing ever comes to one, that is worth having, except as a result of hard work.
I shall allow no man to belittle my soul by making me hate him.
If I have done anything in life worth attention, I feel sure that I inherited the disposition from my mother.
Always have the situation under control, even if losing. Never betray an inward sense of defeat.
My experience has been that work is almost the best way to pull oneself out of the depths.
Progress and innovation happen when you set unrealistic goals.
Ten thousand times has the labor movement stumbled and bruised itself. We have been enjoined by the courts, assaulted by thugs, charged by the militia, traduced by the press, frowned upon in public opinion, and deceived by politicians. 'But notwithstanding all this and all these, labor is today the most vital and potential power this planet has ever known, and its historic mission is as certain of ultimate realization as is the setting of the sun.
It seemed to Alabama that, reaching her goal, she would drive the devils that had driven her - that, in proving herself, she would achieve that peace which she imagined went only in surety of oneβs self - that she would be able, through the medium of the dance, to command her emotions, to summon love or pity or happiness at will, having provided a channel through which they might flow. She drove herself mercilessly, and the summer dragged on.
A lot has happened over the years. And while this nation has been tested by war, and it's been tested by recession and all manner of challenges - I stand before you again tonight, after almost two terms as your president, to tell you I am more optimistic about the future of America than ever before.
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