Booker T. Washington: “I have passed several examinations since then, but I have always felt that this was the best one I ever passed.”

Even the most ignorant members of my race on the remote plantations felt in their hearts, with a certainty that admitted of no doubt, that the freedom of the slaves would be the one great result of the war, if the Northern armies conquered.

Before the end of the year, I think I began learning that those who are happiest are those who do the most for others.

I pity from the bottom of my heart any nation or body of people that is so unfortunate as to get entangled in the net of slavery.

The picture of several dozen boys and girls in a schoolroom engaged in study made a deep impression upon me, and I had the feeling that to get into a schoolhouse and study in this way would be about the same as getting into paradise.