Mary McLeod Bethune Quotes

We have a powerful potential in out youth, and we must have the courage to change old ideas and practices so that we may direct their power toward good ends.

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 plunged into the job of creating something from nothing.... Though I hadn't a penny left, I considered cash money as the smallest part of my resources. I had faith in a living God, faith in myself, and a desire to serve.

Next to God we are indebted to women, first for life itself, and then for making it worth living.

Faith is the first factor in a life devoted to service. Without it, nothing is possible. With it, nothing is impossible.

Invest in the human soul. Who knows, it might be a diamond in the rough.

The true worth of a race must be measured by the character of its womanhood.

The whole world opened to me when I learned to read.

The drums of Africa still beat in my heart. They will not let me rest while there is a single Negro boy or girl without a chance to prove his worth.

If we have the courage and tenacity of our forebears, who stood firmly like a rock against the lash of slavery, we shall find a way to do for our day what they did for theirs.