It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.

If there is no struggle, there is no progress.

Without a struggle, there can be no progress.

Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground.

It is not light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.

The thing worse than rebellion is the thing that causes rebellion.

A battle lost or won is easily described, understood, and appreciated, but the moral growth of a great nation requires reflection, as well as observation, to appreciate it.

I didn’t know I was a slave until I found out I couldn’t do the things I wanted.

I prayed for twenty years but received no answer until I prayed with my legs.

The white man’s happiness cannot be purchased by the black man’s misery.

A smile or a tear has not nationality; joy and sorrow speak alike to all nations, and they, above all the confusion of tongues, proclaim the brotherhood of man.

Some know the value of education by having it. I know its value by not having it.

The American people have this to learn: that where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob, and degrade them, neither person nor property is safe.

Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them.

The life of a nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous.

To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker.

No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck.

I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong.

People might not get all they work for in this world, but they must certainly work for all they get.

Knowledge makes a man unfit to be a slave.

Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.

I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence.

Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation, are people who want crops without ploughing the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning; they want the ocean without the roar of its many waters. The struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, or it may be both. But it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.

I prayed for freedom for twenty years, but received no answer until I prayed with my legs.

Slaves are generally expected to sing as well as to work.

Slaves sing most when they are most unhappy. The songs of the slave represent the sorrows of his heart; and he is relieved by them, only as an aching heart is relieved by its tears.

A gentleman will not insult me, and no man not a gentleman can insult me.

In a composite nation like ours, as before the law, there should be no rich, no poor, no high, no low, no white, no black, but common country, common citizenship, equal rights and a common destiny.

I had as well be killed running as die standing.

The destiny of the colored American … is the destiny of America.

Though conscious of the difficulty of learning without a teacher, I set out with high hope, and a fixed purpose, at whatever cost or trouble, to learn how to read.

The man who is right is a majority. We, who have God and conscience on our side, have a majority against the universe.

I know there is a hope in religion; I know there is faith and I know there is prayer about religion and necessary to it, but God is most glorified when there is peace on earth and good will towards men.

To make a contented slave it is necessary to make a thoughtless one. It is necessary to darken the moral and mental vision and, as far as possible, to annihilate the power of reason.

Without education he lives within the narrow, dark and grimy walls of ignorance. Education, on the other hand, means emancipation. It means light and liberty. It means the uplifting of the soul of man into the glorious light of truth, the light by which men can only be made free. To deny education to any people is one of the greatest crimes against human nature. It is easy to deny them the means of freedom and the rightful pursuit of happiness and to defeat the very end of their being.

Old as the everlasting hills; immovable as the throne of God; and certain as the purposes of eternal power, against all hindrances, and against all delays, and despite all the mutations of human instrumentalities, it is the faith of my soul that this…cause will triumph.

Right is of no sex, truth is of no color, God is the Father of us all, and we are all brethren.

I love the religion of Christianity—which cometh from above—which is a pure, peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of good fruits, and without hypocrisy.

I love that religion which sends its votaries to bind up the wounds of those who have fallen among thieves.

Men have their choice in this world. They can be angels, or they may be demons.

Intelligence is a great leveler here as elsewhere.

Education means emancipation. It means light and liberty. It means the uplifting of the soul of man into the glorious light of truth, the light by which men can only be made free.

Poverty, ignorance and degradation are the combined evils, these constitute the social disease of the free colored people of the US.

Beat and cuff your slave, keep him hungry and spiritless, and he will follow the chain of his master like a dog. Feed and clothe him well, work him moderately, surround him with physical comfort and dreams of freedom intrude.

No man can be truly free whose liberty is dependent upon the thought, feeling and action of others, and who has himself no means in his own hands for guarding, protecting, defending and maintaining that liberty.

Self-Made Men are those who owe little or nothing to birth, relationship, or friendly surroundings; to wealth inherited or to early approved means of education; who are what they are, without the aid of any favoring conditions by which other men usually rise in the world and achieve great results. . . They are in a peculiar sense indebted to themselves for themselves.

I do not think much of the good luck theory of self-made men. It is worth but little attention and has no practical value.

The next best thing to success is a valid apology for non-success. It possesses the means of covering the small with the glory of the great.

Opportunity is important but exertion is indispensable.

We succeed, not alone by the laborious exertions of our faculties, be they small or great, but by the regular, thoughtful and systematic exercise of them.

Election days come and go. But the struggle of the people to create a government which represents all of us and not just the one percent – a government based on the principles of economic, social, racial and environmental justice – that struggle continues.

The cost of college education today is so high that many young people are giving up their dream of going to college, while many others are graduating deeply in debt.

At the current $5.15 an hour, the federal minimum wage has become a poverty wage. A full-time worker with one child lives below the official poverty line.

For many, the American dream has become a nightmare.

Let us wage a moral and political war against the billionaires and corporate leaders, on Wall Street and elsewhere, whose policies and greed are destroying the middle class of America.

The details of what the Fed did were kept secret until a provision in the Dodd-Frank Act that I sponsored required the Government Accountability Office to audit the Fed’s lending programs during the financial crisis.

Difficult times often bring out the best in people.

Every day we are paying more for energy than we should due to poor insulation, inefficient lights, appliances, and heating and cooling equipment – money we could save by investing in energy efficiency.

Low-income people, racial or ethnic minorities, pregnant women, seniors, people with special needs, people in rural areas – they all have a much harder time accessing a dentist than other groups of Americans.

I see a future where getting to work or to school or to the store does not have to cause pollution.

A nation will not survive morally or economically when so few have so much and so many have so little.

Real change never occurs from the top on down, [but] always from the bottom on up.

Finally, let understand that when we stand together, we will always win. When men and women stand together for justice, we win. When black, white and Hispanic people stand together for justice, we win.

What my campaign is about is a political revolution – millions of people standing up and saying, enough is enough. Our government belongs to all of us, and not just the hand full of billionaires.

The problems we face, did not come down from the heavens. They are made, they are made by bad human decisions, and good human decisions can change them.

Now is the time to alter our government. Now is the time to stop the movement toward oligarchy. Now is the time to create a government which represents all Americans and not just the 1%… No more excuses. We must all become involved in the political process.

What democratic socialism is about is saying that it is immoral and wrong that the top one-tenth of 1 percent in this country own almost 90 percent – almost – own almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent. That it is wrong, today, in a rigged economy, that 57 percent of all new income is going to the top 1 percent. That when you look around the world, you see every other major country providing health care to all people as a right, except the United States.

The struggle to create a nation and world of economic and social justice and environmental sanity is not an easy one. The struggle to try and create a more peaceful world will be extremely difficult. But this I know: despair is not an option if we care about our kids and grandchildren. Giving up is not an option if we want to prevent irreparable harm to our planet.
Bernie Sanders

Americans’ right to free speech should not be proportionate to their bank accounts.

It’s better to show up than to give up.

I believe when we stand together, when we share the vision that government should work for all of us, there is nothing we can’t accomplish.

Citizens in a democracy need diverse sources of news and information.

Even the alternative weekly newspapers, traditionally a bastion of progressive thought and analysis, have been bought by a monopoly franchise and made a predictable shift to the right in their coverage of local news.

I’m not much into speculation.

People in American jails are disproportionately people of color. That’s the reality in America today. That’s a reality that has to change.

You can have a different point of view on immigration or anything else, but we cannot be attacking people because of their religion.

We must not accept a nation in which billionaires compete as to the size of their super-yachts, while children in America go hungry.

This looks to me like a group of people who are prepared to make a political revolution.

It’s unacceptable that millions of college graduates can’t afford to buy their first home or car because of outrageously high student debt.

Young people in this country know exactly what they’re doing. They know we need big change, not just small steps.

Education should be a right, not a privilege. We need a revolution in the way that the United States funds higher education.

Every person in this country who has the desire and ability should be able to get all the education they need regardless of the income of their family. This is not a radical idea. In Germany, Scandinavia and many other countries, higher education is either free or very inexpensive. We must do the same.

Fifty years ago, great schools like the University of California and the City University of New York – as well as many state colleges – were tuition free. Today college is unaffordable for many working class families. For the sake of our economy and millions of Americans, we must make higher education more affordable.

How can the United States be competitive globally if higher education is unaffordable? Germany, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Scotland and Sweden have no tuition for college. Other countries have low tuition. We need the best educated workforce in the world. Instead of spending endless amounts on the military, we need to invest in our young people.

Student debt is crushing the lives of millions of Americans. How does it happen that we can get a home mortgage or purchase a car with interest rates half of that being paid for student loans? We must make higher education affordable for all. We must substantially lower interest rates on student loans. This must be a national priority.

At rallies in Vermont and across the country this weekend, our message was clear. We are not going back. Not only are we not going to retreat on women’s rights, we are going to expand them. We are going forward, not backward.

I have a lifetime 100% pro-choice voting record. I understand that people disagree on this issue, but I believe that it is a woman’s decision, it’s a difficult decision, but it’s a decision between her and her physician. I will do everything that I can in 50 states of this country to make sure that women have a choice.

Not only are we going to expand policies that advance gender equality, we are going to fight to pass the long-overdue Equal Rights Amendment and vigorously defend the critical laws and programs which protect all working people in our country.

Rich get richer. Everyone else gets poorer. And all these guys can talk about is war and defunding Planned Parenthood.

The right wing in this country is waging a war against women, and let me be very clear, it is not a war that we are going to allow them to win.

I think the issue of income and wealth inequality is in fact a moral issue.

Nobody who works 40 hours a week should be living in poverty.

If you can’t afford to take care of your #?!# veterans , then don’t go to war.

If the environment were a bank, it would have been saved by now.

A nation will not surve morally or economically when so few have so much, while so many have so little.

Are we prepared to take on the enormous political power of the billionaire class or do we continue to slide into economic and political oligarchy?

Message to the billionaire class: You can’t have it all!

The billionaire class fully understands what is at stake. That’s why a handful of them are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into the current elections. Their goal is not to strengthen the middle class, but continue the trend in which the rich are getting richer at the expense of everyone else.

Today, the United States is No. 1 in corporate profits, No. 1 in CEO salaries, No. 1 in childhood poverty and No. 1 in income and wealth inequality in the industrialized world.

We will not accept a society in which the very rich get richer, while almost everyone else becomes poorer.

Peace is a day-to-day problem, the product of a multitude of events and judgments. Peace is not an ‘is,’ it is a ‘becoming.’

Do not worship me, I am not God. I’m only a man. I worship Jesus Christ.

If a strong government finds that it can, with impunity, destroy a weak people, then the hour has struck for that weak people to appeal to the League of Nations to give its judgment in all freedom. God and history will remember your judgment.

We must become bigger than we have been: more courageous, greater in spirit, larger in outlook. We must become members of a new race, overcoming petty prejudice, owing our ultimate allegiance not to nations but to our fellow men within the human community.

An awareness of our past is essential to the establishment of our personality and our identity as Africans.

The preservation of peace and the guaranteeing of man’s basic freedoms and rights require courage and eternal vigilance: courage to speak and act – and if necessary, to suffer and die – for truth and justice; eternal vigilance, that the least transgression of international morality shall not go undetected and unremedied.

Above all, we must avoid the pitfalls of tribalism. If we are divided among ourselves on tribal lines, we open our doors to foreign intervention and its potentially harmful consequences.

It is much easier to show compassion to animals. They are never wicked.

I have lived too long to cherish many illusions about the essential high-mindedness of men when brought into stark confrontation with the issue of control over their security, and their property interests.

Peace demands the united efforts of us all. Who can foresee what spark might ignite the fuse?

Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.

No one should question the faith of others, for no human being can judge the ways of God.

That until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned: That until there are no longer first-class and second class citizens of any nation; That until the color of a man’s skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes; That until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race; That until that day, the dream of lasting peace and world citizenship and the rule of international morality will remain but a fleeting illusion, to be pursued but never attained.

If you are open-minded and ready to learn, there are many things which you can learn not only from books and instructores but form the very life experience itself.

Our youth must be steadfast and take advantage of the benefits of modern civilization. Do not fall prey to idleness for it shall be a curse to you and to succeeding generations. You must set yourselves us as examples of determination and hard work. Plan your time and use both your physical and mental powers purposefully and productively.

Many discouraging hours will arise before the rainbow of accomplished goals will appear on the horizon.

A man who says “I have learned enough and will learn no further” should be considered as knowing nothing at all.

Imagination, devotion, perseverance, together with divine grace, will assure your success. Knowing that material & spiritual progress are essential to man, we must ceaselessly work for the equal attainment of both. It is only when a people strike an even balance between scientific progress & spiritual & moral advancement that it can be said to possess a wholly perfect and complete personality and not a lopsided one.

You must always remember that to lead, one must first learn to follow…

Spiritual power is the eternal guide, in this life and the life after, for man ranks supreme among all creatures. Led forward by spiritual power, man can reach the summit destined for him by the Great Creator.

Education develops the intellect; and the intellect distinguishes man from other creatures. It is education that enables man to harness nature and utilize her resources for the well-being and improvement of his life.

Leadership does not mean domination.

The true leader is a different sort; he seeks effective activity which has a truly beneficient purpose. He inspires others to follow in his wake, and holding aloft the torch of wisdom, leads the way for society to realize its genuinely great aspirations.

There is always something moving, brewing. There are ambitious people everywhere. Wicked people. The only thing to do is to deal with them with courage and decision. One must beware of uncertainty, weakness or conflicting emotions – they lead to defeat.

History teaches us that unity is strength, and cautions us to submerge and overcome our differences in the quest for common goals, to strive, with all our combined strength, for the path to true African brotherhood and unity.

He [the Almighty] taught us that all human beings are equal regardless of sex, national origin and tribe. And He also taught us all who seek Him shall find Him.

Let us set our goals too high; let us demand more of ourselves than we believe we possess

Knowledge paves the way to Love, and Love in its turn fosters understanding, and leads one along the path of great common achievements.

In the history of the human race, those periods which later appeared as great have been the periods when the men and the women belonging to them had transcended the differences that divided them and had recognized in their membership in the human race a common bond.

If each and everyone endeavours to cooperate and work in as much as his capacity permits, our faith rests upon the Almighty God that he would bless the results for us.

Enlightened leadership is spiritual if we understand spirituality not as some kind of religious dogma or ideology but as the domain of awareness where we experience values like truth, goodness, beauty, love and compassion, and also intuition, creativity, insight and focused attention.

Infuse your life with action. Don’t wait for it to happen. Make it happen. Make your own future. Make your own hope. Make your own love. And whatever your beliefs, honor your creator, not by passively waiting for grace to come down from upon high, but by doing what you can to make grace happen… yourself, right now, right down here on Earth.

Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.

Alcohol may be man’s worst enemy, but the bible says love your enemy.

True love is like ghosts, which everyone talks about and few have seen.

The greatest legacy one can pass on to one’s children and grandchildren is not money or other material things accumulated in one’s life, but rather a legacy of character and faith.

Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it.

Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe.

In my deepest, darkest moments, what really got me through was a prayer. Sometimes my prayer was ‘Help me.’ Sometimes a prayer was ‘Thank you.’ What I’ve discovered is that intimate connection and communication with my creator will always get me through because I know my support, my help, is just a prayer away.

A grateful heart is a beginning of greatness. It is an expression of humility. It is a foundation for the development of such virtues as prayer, faith, courage, contentment, happiness, love, and well-being.

The temple of the most high begins with the human body, which houses our life, essence of our existence.

Spirituality is not theology or ideology.
It is simple a way of life, pure and original as was given by the most high.

As the essence of our existence it embodies our culture, true identity, nationhood and destiny.

A people without a nation they can really call their own is a people without a soul.

When African righteous people come together, the world will come together.

Spiritual power is the eternal guide, in this life and the life after, for man ranks supreme among all creatures. Led forward by spiritual power, man can reach the summit destined for him by the Great Creator.

Outside the kingdom of the Lord there is no nation which is greater than any other. God and history will remember your judgment.

It is us today. It will be you tomorrow.

Observe that anyone who dies for his country is a fortunate man, but death takes what it wants, indiscriminately, in peace-time as well as in war. It is better to die with freedom than without it.

We wish to recall here the spirit of tolerance shown by Our Lord Jesus Christ when He gave forgiveness to all including those that crucified Him.

With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’

A woman is like a tea bag – you can’t tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water.

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.

You must do the things you think you cannot do.

Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.

Do what you feel in your heart to be right- for you’ll be criticized anyway. You’ll be damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.

One’s philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes… and the choices we make are ultimately our responsibility.

I once had a rose named after me and I was very flattered. But I was not pleased to read the description in the catalogue: no good in a bed, but fine up against a wall.

People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how character is built.

It isn’t enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn’t enough to believe in it. One must work at it.

The giving of love is an education in itself.

Friendship with ones self is all important, because without it one can not be friends with anyone else in the world.

Have convictions. Be friendly. Stick to your beliefs as they stick to theirs. Work as hard as they do.

Since you get more joy out of giving joy to others, you should put a good deal of thought into the happiness you are able to give.

I believe anyone can conquer fear by doing the things he fears to do, provided he keeps doing them until he gets a record of successful experience behind him.

Life must be lived and curiosity kept alive. One must never, for any reason, turn his back of life.

You wouldn’t worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do.

The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.

You can often change your circumstances by changing your attitude.

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.

Do one thing every day that scares you.

You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do.

It takes courage to love, but pain through love is the purifying fire which those who love generously know. We all know people who are so much afraid of pain that they shut themselves up like clams in a shell and, giving out nothing, receive nothing and therefore shrink until life is a mere living death.

Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart.

No matter how plain a woman may be, if truth and honesty are written across her face, she will be beautiful.

We are afraid to care too much, for fear that the other person does not care at all.

To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart.

Beautiful young people are accidents of nature, but beautiful old people are works of art.

If someone betrays you once, it’s their fault; if they betray you twice, it’s your fault.

I could not at any age be content to take my place in a corner by the fireside and simply look on.

I think that somehow, we learn who we really are and then live with that decision.

It is not fair to ask of others what you are unwilling to do yourself.

Justice cannot be for one side alone, but must be for both.

Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.

One thing life has taught me: if you are interested, you never have to look for new interests. They come to you. When you are genuinely interested in one thing, it will always lead to something else.

Courage is more exhilarating than fear and in the long run it is easier. We do not have to become heroes overnight. Just one step at a time, meeting each thing that comes up, seeing it is not as dreadful as it appeared, discovering we have the strength to stare it down.

Surely, in the light of history, it is more intelligent to hope rather than to fear, to try rather than not to try. For one thing we know beyond all doubt: Nothing has ever been achieved by the person who says, ‘It can’t be done.

The world of the future is in our making. Tomorrow is now.

It isn’t enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn’t enough to believe in it. One must work at it.

The important thing is neither your nationality nor the religion you professed, but how your faith translated itself in your life.

Remember always that you have not only the right to be an individual; you have an obligation to be one. You cannot make any useful contribution in life unless you do this.

Pit race against race, religion against religion, prejudice against prejudice. Divide and conquer! We must not let that happen here.

If human beings can be trained for cruelty and greed and a belief in power which comes through hate and fear and force, certainly we can train equally well for greatness and mercy and the power of love which comes because of the strength of the good qualities to be found in the soul of every human being.

Someone once asked me what I regarded as the three most important requirements for happiness. My answer was: A feeling that you have been honest with yourself and those around you; a feeling that you have done the best you could both in your personal life and in your work; and the ability to love others.

True patriotism springs from a belief in the dignity of the individual, freedom and equality not only for Americans but for all people on earth, universal brotherhood and good will, and a constant and earnest striving toward the principles and ideals on which this country was founded.

When you have decided what you believe, what you feel must be done, have the courage to stand alone and be counted.

A good leader inspires people to have confidence in the leader,
a great leader inspires people to have confidence in themselves.

Poor minds talk about people average minds talk about events great minds talk about ideas.

Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That is why it is called the present.