February is Black History Month. In recognition of this month, here are twenty-five quotes to ponder:
Ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.
-James Baldwin (No Name in the Street)
Miracles happen all the time. We’re here, aren’t we?
-Marilyn Nelson (Abba Jacob and Miracles)
The greatest lie ever told about love is that it sets you free.
-Zadie Smith (On Beauty)
A little less complaint and whining, and a little more dogged work and manly striving, would do us more credit than a thousand civil rights bills. –W.E.B. Dubois
There’s not a liberal America and a conservative America – there’s the United States of America.
-Barack Obama
I believe in human beings, and that all human beings should be respected as such, regardless of their color.
–Malcolm X
Life’s most persistent and urgent question is “What are you doing for others?”
-Martin Luther King, Jr.
Never be afraid to sit awhile and think. –Lorraine Hansberry
Confront the dark parts of yourself, and work to banish them with illumination and forgiveness. Your willingness to wrestle with your demons will cause your angels to sing.
–August Wilson
Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough. –Oprah Winfrey
A rich man told me recently that a liberal is a man who tells other people what to do with their money.
–Amiri Baraka
Nobody can do for little children what grandparents do. Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust over the lives of little children. – Alex Haley
Religion without humanity is very poor human stuff. –
Sojourner Truth
Curious that we spend more time congratulating people who have succeeded than encouraging people who have not. – Neil deGrasse Tyson
Presumption should never make us neglect that which appears easy to us, nor despair make us lose courage at the sight of difficulties. –Benjamin Banneker
I want to grow. I want to be better. You grow. We all grow. We’re made to grow. You either evolve or you disappear. –Tupac Shakur
If you don’t understand yourself you don’t understand anybody else.
– Nikki Giovanni
Everyone can relate to love, hurt, pain, learning how to forgive, needing to get over, needing the power of God in their life. –Tyler Perry
Worry is a funky luxury when a lot has to be done.
–Melvin Van Peebles
If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else. –
Booker T. Washington
Hate is too great a burden to bear. It injures the hater more than it injures the hated.
—Coretta Scott King
If there is no struggle, there is no progress.
—Frederick Douglass
We all have dreams. In order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self- discipline and effort.
—Jesse Owens
Life is not a spectator sport. If you’re going to spend your whole life in the grandstand just watching what goes on, in my opinion, you’re wasting your life. —Jackie Robinson
Life has two rules: number 1, never quit! Number 2, always remember rule number one.