Are you searching for quotes that were inspired by African past heroes who have fought for freedom and a good life? If yes, keep reading to get the best inspiring and motivational collections of black ancestors’ quotes that will help you connect with your ancestors.
If you are looking for the best quotes from African heroes, then you are definitely in the right place and the best place to get them. In this article, we will explore some powerful and inspiring quotes from black ancestors who have made significant contributions to history.
Also, these quotes reflect the wisdom, resilience, and strength of black leaders throughout the centuries. By delving into their words, we gain a deeper understanding of their experiences, challenges, and triumphs. Keep reading as we celebrate the enduring legacy of these extraordinary individuals.
Black Ancestors Quotes
- “We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated.” – Maya Angelou
- “Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome.” – Booker T. Washington
- “The cost of liberty is less than the price of repression.” – W.E.B. Du Bois
- “Do not bring people in your life who weigh you down. And trust your instincts… good relationships feel good. They feel right. They don’t hurt.” – Oprah Winfrey
- “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
- “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
- “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” – Frederick Douglass
- “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” – Alice Walker
- “I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.” – Angela Davis
- “Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” – Harriet Tubman
- “I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
- “No person is your friend who demands your silence or denies your right to grow.” – Alice Walker
- “The thing about life is that you must survive. Life is going to be difficult, and dreadful things will happen. What you do is move along, get on with it, and be tough. Not in the sense of being mean to others, but being tough with yourself and making a deadly effort not to be defeated.” – Toni Morrison
- “Your crown has been bought and paid for. Put it on your head and wear it.” – Maya Angelou
- “You have to act as if it were possible to radically transform the world. And you have to do it all the time.” – Angela Davis
- “The battles that count aren’t the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself, the invisible, inevitable battles inside all of us, that’s where it’s at.” – Jesse Owens
- “We have to talk about liberating minds as well as liberating society.” – Angela Davis
- “I am where I am because of the bridges that I crossed. Sojourner Truth was a bridge. Harriet Tubman was a bridge. Ida B. Wells was a bridge. Madame C.J. Walker was a bridge. Fannie Lou Hamer was a bridge.” – Oprah Winfrey
- “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” – Nelson Mandela
- “Defining myself, as opposed to being defined by others, is one of the most difficult challenges I face.” – Carol Moseley Braun
- “I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear.” – Rosa Parks
Black History Motivational Quotes
- “I had to make my own living and my own opportunity. But I made it! Don’t sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. Get up and make them.” – Madam C.J. Walker
- “If you’re walking down the right path and you’re willing to keep walking, eventually you’ll make progress.” – Barack Obama
- “Hate is too great a burden to bear. It injures the hater more than it injures the hated.” – Coretta Scott King
- “We have to fight for our rights, just like every other people. We have to organize ourselves, not just through prayers and songs, but through our study of the world and our struggle with it.” – Malcolm X
- “Success is not the absence of failure; it’s the persistence through failure.” – Aisha Tyler
- “There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.” – Audre Lorde
- “I am my best work, a series of road maps, reports, recipes, doodles, and prayers from the front lines.” – Audre Lorde
- “Our backs are against the wall. We must press onward. We must persist.” – Kamala Harris
- “I don’t want a Black History Month. Black history is American history.” – Morgan Freeman
- “I am where I am because of the bridges that I crossed. Sojourner Truth was a bridge. Harriet Tubman was a bridge. Ida B. Wells was a bridge. Madame C.J. Walker was a bridge. Fannie Lou Hamer was a bridge.” – Oprah Winfrey
- “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” – Maya Angelou
- “I have discovered in life that there are ways of getting almost anywhere you want to go if you really want to go.” – Langston Hughes
- “Racism is not an excuse to not do the best you can.” – Arthur Ashe
- “The price of hating other human beings is loving oneself less.” – Eldridge Cleaver
- “We have become a strong people through pain, and we shall overcome all barriers, obstacles, and hurdles.” – John Lewis
- “Don’t wait around for other people to be happy for you. Any happiness you get you’ve got to make yourself.” – Alice Walker
- “The future belongs to those who prepare for it today.” – Malcolm X
- “My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together.” – Desmond Tutu
- “Struggle is a never-ending process. Freedom is never really won; you earn it and win it in every generation.” – Coretta Scott King
- “Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.” – Malcolm X
- “Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future, and renders the present inaccessible.” – Maya Angelou
- “You are your best thing.” – Toni Morrison
- “Don’t let anyone rob you of your imagination, your creativity, or your curiosity. It’s your place in the world; it’s your life. Go on and do all you can with it, and make it the life you want to live.” – Mae Jemison
- “Without community, there is no liberation.” – Audre Lorde
- “When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.” – Audre Lorde
- “We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” – Joseph Campbell
- “The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
- “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
- “The best way to predict your future is to create it.” – Peter Drucker
- “If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.” – Maya Angelou
Famous Black Inspirational Quotes
- “No person has the right to rain on your dreams.” – Marian Wright Edelman
- “The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.” – James Baldwin
- “You don’t make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas.” – Shirley Chisholm
- “It’s not the load that breaks you down, it’s the way you carry it.” – Lena Horne
- “Do not bring people in your life who weigh you down. And trust your instincts… good relationships feel good. They feel right. They don’t hurt.” – Oprah Winfrey
- “We have to fight until justice runs down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
- “The power of imagination makes us infinite.” – John Muir
- “I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.” – Booker T. Washington
- “It is better to be prepared for an opportunity and not have one than to have an opportunity and not be prepared.” – Whitney M. Young Jr.
- “There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.” – Audre Lorde
- “It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.” – Audre Lorde
- “When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.” – Audre Lorde
- “To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time.” – James Baldwin
- “I can’t believe what you say, because I see what you do.” – James Baldwin
- “You don’t have to be anti-white to be pro-black.” – Cornel West
- “Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” – Harriet Tubman
- “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
- “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” – Frederick Douglass
- “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” – Alice Walker
- “I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.” – Angela Davis
- “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
- “The cost of liberty is less than the price of repression.” – W.E.B. Du Bois
- “Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome.” – Booker T. Washington
- “Do not bring people in your life who weigh you down. And trust your instincts… good relationships feel good.
Short Black History Quotes
- “The time is always right to do what is right.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
- “Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome.” – Booker T. Washington
- “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
- “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” – Alice Walker
- “Don’t wait around for other people to be happy for you. Any happiness you get, you’ve got to make yourself.” – Alice Walker
- “I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
- “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” – Frederick Douglass
- “The African race is a rubber ball. The harder you dash it to the ground, the higher it will rise.” – African Proverb
- “My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together.” – Desmond Tutu
- “We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated.” – Maya Angelou
- “You don’t make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas.” – Shirley Chisholm
- “I am where I am because of the bridges that I crossed. Sojourner, Harriet, Fannie Lou, you name it. And I dare somebody to try to tear down the bridges that got me here.” – Oprah Winfrey
- “In recognizing the humanity of our fellow beings, we pay ourselves the highest tribute.” – Thurgood Marshall
- “Our children need to understand that history did not begin with slavery.” – Dr. John Henrik Clarke
- “I am not a single-issue candidate, and I do not believe we live in a single-issue country.” – Kamala Harris
- “Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” – Harriet Tubman
- “I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear.” – Rosa Parks
- “Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.” – Langston Hughes
- “I had no idea that history was being made. I was just tired of giving up.” – Rosa Parks
- “It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.” – Audre Lorde
- “We must never forget that Black History is American History. The achievements of African Americans have contributed to our nation’s greatness.” – Yvette Clarke
- “You are your best thing.” – Toni Morrison
- “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
- “Do not bring people in your life who weigh you down. And trust your instincts … good relationships feel good. They feel right. They don’t hurt.” – Oprah Winfrey
- “The cost of liberty is less than the price of repression.” – W.E.B. Du Bois
- “Success is not the absence of failure; it’s the persistence through failure.” – Aja Naomi King
- “You have to act as if it were possible to radically transform the world. And you have to do it all the time.” – Angela Davis
Black History Quotes
- “The future belongs to those who prepare for it today.” – Malcolm X
- “Never be limited by other people’s limited imaginations.” – Dr. Mae Jemison
- “It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another.” – Nelson Mandela
- “Do not call for black power or green power. Call for brain power.” – Barbara Jordan
- “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.” – Shirley Chisholm
- “Don’t just aspire to make a living. Aspire to make a difference.” – Denzel Washington
- “Racism is not an excuse to not do the best you can.” – Arthur Ashe
- “We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort.” – Jesse Owens
- “Freedom is never given; it is won.” – A. Philip Randolph
- “The only way to deal with this life, any life, is to find your passion.” – Diahann Carroll
- “Success is not measured by what you accomplish, but by the opposition you have encountered, and the courage with which you have maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds.” – Orison Swett Marden
- “Excellence is the best deterrent to racism or sexism.” – Oprah Winfrey
- “I don’t want a Black History Month. Black history is American history.” – Morgan Freeman
- “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” – Nelson Mandela
- “No person is your friend who demands your silence or denies your right to grow.” – Alice Walker
- “Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability but comes through continuous struggle.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
- “A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin, and culture is like a tree without roots.” – Marcus Garvey
- “It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.” – Maya Angelou
- “Struggles for justice should never be defeated by the bitterness of hate.” – Coretta Scott King
- “The battles that count aren’t the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself, the invisible, inevitable battles inside all of us, that’s where it’s at.” – Jesse Owens
- “I don’t have any time to stay up all night worrying about what someone who doesn’t love me has to say about me.” – Viola Davis
- “There is no limit to what we, as women, can accomplish.” – Michelle Obama
- “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
Black Quotes About Life
- “Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.” – Maya Angelou
- “Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and, above all, confidence in ourselves.” – Marie Curie
- “Life is too short to waste any amount of time on wondering what other people think about you. In the first place, if they had better things going on in their lives, they wouldn’t have the time to sit around and talk about you.” – Sonya Parker
- “Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” – Confucius
- “The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “Life is about making an impact, not making an income.” – Kevin Kruse
- “The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams.” – Oprah Winfrey
- “Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to it.” – Charles R. Swindoll
- “Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.” – Søren Kierkegaard
- “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” – Albert Einstein
- “Life is short, and it’s up to you to make it sweet.” – Sarah Louise Delany
- “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” – Helen Keller
- “Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we respond to it.” – Lou Holtz
- “Life is about growth and discovery, not achieving a state of perfection.” – Jay-Z
- “Life is tough, but so are you.” – Stephanie Bennett-Henry
- “Life is a journey that must be traveled no matter how bad the roads and accommodations.” – Oliver Goldsmith
- “Life is like a mirror. Smile at it, and it smiles back at you.” – Peace Pilgrim
- “Life is short, and it’s up to you to make it colorful.” – Matt Hardy
- “Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass but learning to dance in the rain.” – Vivian Greene
- “Life is a constant struggle, but the struggle is what makes us strong.” – Serena Williams
- “Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.” – John Lennon
- “Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” – Lao Tzu
- “Life is too deep for words, so don’t try to describe it, just live it.” – C.S. Lewis
- “Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but sometimes playing a poor hand well.” – Jack London
- “Life is about finding the balance between hustle and self-care.” – Unknown
- “Life is a journey, not a destination. Enjoy the ride.” – Unknown
- “Life is about creating yourself.” – George Bernard Shaw
- “Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning how to dance in the rain.” – Unknown
- “Life is a precious gift. Use your days wisely and fill them with love, joy, and purpose.” – Unknown
As we conclude this journey through black ancestors’ quotes, we are reminded of the profound wisdom, strength, and resilience displayed by these remarkable individuals.
In addition, their words continue to inspire and challenge us to strive for a more just and inclusive society. Let us celebrate their legacy and carry it forward, ensuring that their voices are heard and their impact is never forgotten.
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