African American Inspirational Quotes

I know why the caged bird sings.

I used to want the words 'She tried' on my tombstone. Now I want 'She did it.'

I really don't think life is about the I-could-have-beens. Life is only about the I-tried-to-do. I don't mind the failure but I can't imagine that I'd forgive myself if I didn't try.

It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it.

You're not obligated to win. You're obligated to keep trying to do the best you can every day.

I do not weep at the world I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife.

I am not tragically colored. There is no great sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes. I do not mind at all.

You're either part of the solution or you're part of the problem.

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.

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.

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

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

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

I am the dream and the hope of the slave

We are the ones we've been waiting for.

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

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

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

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

Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit. We are all the same in this notion: The potential for greatness lives within each of us.

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I rise. I rise. I rise.

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.

Where there is no vision, there is no hope.

The potential for greatness lives within us all.

Never be limited by other people's limited imaginations.

Knowing what must be done does away with fear.

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.

We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.

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.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

Hate is too great a burden to bear.

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

we are the ones we have been waiting for

Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.

Every great dream begins with a dreamer.

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.

If we accept and acquiesce in the face of discrimination, we accept the responsibility ourselves. We should, therefore, protest openly everything ... that smacks of discrimination or slander.

I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying.

If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude.

Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.

I've failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.