W.E.B. Du Bois

"The price of culture is a lie."

"Power is the ability to control one's own destiny."

"Give the Negro a chance; he has the capacity."

"War is organized murder, and it is practiced by every nation."

"I believe in the Negro race; it has a magnificent destiny."

"The cost of the color line is wasting the genius of black folk."

"Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were, but without it we go nowhere."

"The Negro church is the only social institution of the Negroes which started in the African forest and survived slavery."

"Peace is the dream and hope of those who have suffered."

"Technology is no neutral tool; it carries the values of those who create it."

"A lie must be lived and it must be supported by endless lies."

"Teaching is an art that demands not just knowledge but love."

"The Negro American realizes that his fate is linked with the whole human race."

"I do not believe in colored superiority, but I do believe in colored intelligence and righteousness."

"The question is not, 'Can the Negro think?' but 'Will the Negro be allowed to think?'"

"Dignity is not something that can be given; it must be claimed."

"The most powerful weapon against poverty is knowledge."

"I have seen progress; I have seen the Negro rise from slavery."

"Loyalty is a wonderful thing, but it is not enough—we must have justice."

"The American Negro must participate in determining his own destiny."

"Better to strive vainly than to live content in evil."

"The Negro problem is really America's problem."

"Let us study the facts and let facts guide our conclusions."

"I am not merely a dreamer—I am a worker."

"Black is beautiful, but beauty is not the issue—justice is."

"The Negro youth must see themselves as inheritors of a proud legacy."

"Despair is the weapon of the oppressor; hope is our resistance."

"Literature must be a weapon in the struggle for human freedom."

"To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a state of rage."

"Civilization cannot survive without justice."