Booker T. Washington Quotes

Those who are happiest are those who do the most for others.

~ Booker T. Washington

I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.

~ Booker T. Washington

You measure the size of the accomplishment by the obstacles you have to overcome to reach your goals.

~ Booker T. Washington

The older I grow, the more I am convinced that there is no education which one can get from books and costly apparatus that is equal to that which can be gotten from contact with great men and women.

~ Booker T. Washington

I knew that, in a large degree, we were trying an experiment--that of testing whether or not it was possible for Negroes to build up and control the affairs of a large education institution. I knew that if we failed it wold injure the whole race.

~ Booker T. Washington

In my contact with people, I find that, as a rule, it is only the little, narrow people who live for themselves, who never read good books, who do not travel, who never open up their souls in a way to permit them to come into contact with other souls – with the great outside world.

~ Booker T. Washington

One man cannot hold another man down in the ditch without remaining down in the ditch with him.

~ Booker T. Washington

I will permit no man to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him.

~ Booker T. Washington

We all should rise, above the clouds of ignorance, narrowness, and selfishness.

~ Booker T. Washington

The world should not pass judgement upon the Negro, and especially the Negro youth, too quickly or too harshly. The Negro boy has obstacles, discouragements and temptations to battle with that are little known to those not situated as he is.

~ Booker T. Washington

With few exceptions, the Negro youth must work harder and must perform his tasks even better than a with youth in order to secure recognition. But out of the hard and unusual struggle through which he is compelled to pass, he gets a strength, a confidence, that one missed whose pathway is comparatively smooth by reason of brith and race.

~ Booker T. Washington

No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.

~ Booker T. Washington

In later years, I confess that I do not envy the white boy as I once did. I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.

~ Booker T. Washington

You can't hold a man down without staying down with him.

~ Booker T. Washington

It is important and right that all privileges of the law be ours, but it is vastly more important that we be prepared for the exercise of those privileges.

~ Booker T. Washington

Any man's life will be filled with constant and unexpected encouragement if he makes up his mind to do his level best each day.

~ Booker T. Washington

If you can't read, it's going to be hard to realize dreams.

~ Booker T. Washington

Nothing ever comes to one, that is worth having, except as a result of hard work.

~ Booker T. Washington

There are two ways of exerting one's strength: one is pushing down, the other is pulling up.

~ Booker T. Washington

At the bottom of education, at the bottom of politics, even at the bottom of religion, there must be for our race economic independence.

~ Booker T. Washington

Associate yourself with people of good quality, for it is better to be alone than in bad company.

~ Booker T. Washington

There is no power on earth that can neutralize the influence of a high, simple and useful life.

~ Booker T. Washington

Few things can help an individual more than to place responsibility on him, and to let him know that you trust him.

~ Booker T. Washington

Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome.

~ Booker T. Washington

I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has had to overcome while trying to succeed.

~ Booker T. Washington

I shall allow no man to belittle my soul by making me hate him.

~ Booker T. Washington