Booker T. Washington: “I believe that one always does himself and his audience an injustice when he speaks merely for the sake of speaking.”

The hurtful influences of the institution were not by any means confined to the Negro.

I never saw a man who so completely lost sight of himself.

Ever since I have been old enough to think for myself, I have entertained the idea that, notwithstanding the cruel wrongs inflicted upon us, the black man got nearly as much out of slavery as the white man did.

I have long since ceased to cherish any spirit of bitterness against the Southern white people on account of the enslavement of my race.