I've learned that my people are not the only ones oppressed... I have sung my songs all over the world and everywhere found that some common bond makes the people of all lands take to Negro songs as their own.
Paul RobesonRead
We [must] realize that our future lies chiefly in our own hands.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Our future is primarily determined by our own actions and decisions.
This quote emphasizes the importance of personal responsibility and agency in shaping our future. It suggests that while external factors may influence our circumstances, it is ultimately our choices and efforts that define the path we take in life.
Themes
FutureResponsibilityChoiceAgencySelf-Determination
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about personal development, you could say, 'As Paul Robeson wisely noted, our future lies in our own hands.'
More from Paul Robeson
All quotes βWe ask for nothing that is not ours by right, and herein lies the great moral power of our demand.
Paul RobesonRead
My mother was born in your state, Mr. Walter, and my mother was a Quaker, and my ancestors in the time of Washington baked bread for George Washington's troops when they crossed the Delaware, and my own father was a slave.
Paul RobesonRead
The intolerance of the few, or the risk of it, carries the day against the wider humanity of the many.
Paul RobesonRead
I shall take my voice wherever there are those who want to hear the melody of freedom
Paul RobesonRead
And at home in the United States we found continued and increased persecution, first of leaders of the Communist Party, and then of all honest anti-fascists.
Paul RobesonRead
Similar quotes
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In a neighborhood, as in life, a clean bandage is much, much better than a raw or festering wound.
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Rid of craving and without clinging, an expert in the study of texts, and understanding the right sequence of the words, he may indeed be called "In his last body", "Great in wisdom" and a "Great man."
Gautama BuddhaRead
Every one of our greatest national treasures, our liberty, enterprise, vitality, wealth, military power, global authority, flow from a surprising source: our ability to give thanks.
Tony SnowRead
On matters beyond his ken a gentleman speaks with caution. If names are not right, words are misused. When words are misused, affairs go wrong. When affairs go wrong, courtesy and music droop, law and justice fail. And when law and justice fail them, a people can move neither hand nor foot. So a gentleman must be ready to put names in speech, to put words into deeds. A gentleman is nowise careless of words.
ConfuciusRead
My whole goal is to keep my spirit intact. If that doesn't happen, none of this is worth it.
JewelRead