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
I would permit no man, no matter what his colour might be, to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of maintaining one's integrity and humanity, regardless of how others may treat us.
In this quote, Booker T. Washington is conveying that he will not allow anyone's actions or prejudices to determine his own feelings or degrade his character. He highlights the idea that hatred is a choice and that one can choose to rise above the hate directed at them, thus preserving their own dignity and soul against the negativity of others.
Themes
HateSoulIntegrityCharacterPrejudice
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about tolerance and acceptance.
More from Booker T. Washington
All quotes βLeaders 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.
Booker T. WashingtonRead
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.
Booker T. WashingtonRead
Nothing ever comes to one, that is worth having, except as a result of hard work.
Booker T. WashingtonRead
I shall allow no man to belittle my soul by making me hate him.
Booker T. WashingtonRead
If I have done anything in life worth attention, I feel sure that I inherited the disposition from my mother.
Booker T. WashingtonRead
Similar quotes
I was thinking of my patients, and how the worst moment for them was when they discovered they were masters of their own fate. It was not a matter of bad or good luck. When they could no longer blame fate, they were in despair.
Anais NinRead
Our age is one of transition, in which the normal channels for utilizing the daimonic are denied; and such ages tend to be times when the daimonic is expressed in its most destructive form.
Rollo MayRead
Being critical of the nation is a far cry from being unpatriotic or anti-American. In fact, most social criticism . . . is based on a love of America's ideals and a concern we're not living up to them.
Robert ReichRead
The day nothing turns you on - you're dead. No matter how many more years you go on breathing.
Malcolm ForbesRead
I wish I had never been born--there or anywhere else.
Thomas HardyRead
The threat of China is not military. The threat of China is they can't be intimidated. Europe you can intimidate. When the US tries to get people to stop investing in Iran, European companies pull out, China disregards it. You look at history and understand why - they've been around for 4,000 years, they have contempt for the barbarians, they just don't give a damn.
Noam ChomskyRead