Best Black History Month Inspirational Quotes

I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.

Hate is too great a burden to bear. It injures the hater more than it injures the hated.

Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced.

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.

There is no negro problem. The problem is whether the American people have loyalty enough, honor enough, patriotism enough, to live up to their own constitution

Racism is not an excuse to not do the best you can.

We are the ones we have been waiting for.

What we need is not a history of selected races or nations, but the history of the world void of national bias, race hate, and religious prejudice.

Every great dream begins with a dreamer.

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

Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

Unconditional love will have the final word in reality.

We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.

The battles that count aren’t the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself – the invisible, inevitable battles inside all of us – that’s where it’s at.

I felt that one had better die fighting against injustice than to die like a dog or rat in a trap. I had already determined to sell my life as dearly as possible if attacked. I felt if I could take one lyncher with me, this would even up the score a little bit.

I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person.

I have observed this in my experience of slavery, that whenever my condition was improved, instead of increasing my contentment; it only increased my desire to be free, and set me thinking of plans to gain my freedom.

Where there is no vision, there is no hope.

You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man.

One day our descendants will think it incredible that we paid so much attention to things like the amount of melanin in our skin or the shape of our eyes or our gender instead of the unique identities of each of us as complex human beings.

Surround yourself with people who take their work seriously, but not themselves, those who work hard and play hard.

Black people have always been America’s wilderness in search of a promised land.

Defining myself, as opposed to being defined by others, is one of the most difficult challenges I face.

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.

Do not call for black power or green power. Call for brain power.

In all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress.

The past is a ghost, the future a dream, and all we ever have is now.

You can be up to your boobies in white satin, with gardenias in your hair and no sugar cane for miles, but you can still be working on a plantation.

I felt somehow for many years that George Washington and Alexander Hamilton just left me out by mistake. But through the process of amendment, interpretation, and court decision, I have finally been included in ‘We, the people.’

When I dare to be powerful – to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.