Black Folks Quotes
The Power of a Quote
Reading and reflecting on quotes is a great way to center yourself, focus, and find inspiration, energy, comfort and hope. In fact, according to media psychology expert Scott Sobel, the popularity of quotes may be rooted in our biology as we are aspirational beings and that desire to look up to leaders and role models and follow what they do and say. Consider what quotes are meaningful for you and how you want to incorporate them into your daily life. For example, you can use a quote as your desktop or phone background, or write them on a note to hang on your wall.
If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward." — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Character is power.” —Booker T. Washington
“Just don’t give up what you’re trying to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don’t think you can go wrong.” —Ella Fitzgerald
“Never be limited by other people’s limited imaginations.” — Dr. Mae Jemison
“It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe.” — Muhammad Ali
"Even if it makes others uncomfortable, I will love who I am.” — Janelle Monáe
“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.” – Barack Obama
“Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I rise. I rise. I rise." – Maya Angelou
"If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair." — Shirley Chisholm
“It isn’t where you come from; it’s where you’re going that counts.” – Ella Fitzgerald
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation are men who want crops without plowing up the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will." - Frederick Douglass
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” — Maya Angelou
"I can’t make people not afraid of black people. I don’t know what’s going on. I can’t explain what’s happening in your head. But maybe if I show up every day as a human, a good human, doing wonderful things, loving my family, loving your kids, taking care of things that I care about—maybe, just maybe that work will pick away at the scabs of your discrimination. Maybe that slowly will unravel it. That’s all we have, because we can’t do it for them, because they’re broken. Their brokenness in how they see us is a reflection of this brokenness. And you can’t fix that. All you can do is the work." — Michelle Obama
“There is always light. If only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it.” — Amanda Gorman
“Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.” — Langston Hughes
Say it loud. I'm black and I'm proud! — James Brown