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
It means a great deal, I think, to start off on a foundation which one has made for oneself.
Interpretation
Building your own foundation is crucial for personal achievement.
This quote emphasizes the importance of self-creation and independence in achieving one's goals. It suggests that establishing a solid foundation through personal effort and hard work leads to greater significance and success in life.
In practice
In a graduation speech to inspire students about pursuing their dreams.
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.
Statues to great men are made of the stones thrown at them in their lifetime.
Every man has a right to be conceited until he is successful.
My dad said if you become a tennis professional just make sure you get into the top hundred, because you have to make a little bit of money. You make a living so you can pay your coaching and, you know, your travels.
My belief is firm in a law of compensation. The true rewards are ever in proportion to the labour and sacrifices made.
A lot of people don't know a lot of records that I've written or produced, so that's a highlight for me as a woman.
I succeeded at venture capital because, for years, I rarely thought about or spent time on anything else. Anything less than that unmitigated full commitment leaves me feeling frustrated and ineffective.
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