“Black Quotations” On Self-Reliance
A man’s bread and butter is only insured when he works for it.
- Marcus Garvey, 83
Treat your guest as a guest for two days; on the third day, give him a hoe!
- Swahili Folk Saying, 84
Actually we are slaves to the cost of living.
- Carolina Maria De Jesus, 84
Man cannot live by profit alone.
- James Baldwin, 84
The appearance of millionaires in any society is no proof of its affluence; they can be produced by very poor countries… it is not efficiency of production which makes millionaires; it is the uneven distribution of what is produced.
- Julius K. Nyerere, 85
We realize that our future lies chiefly in our own hands. We know that neither institution nor friends can make a race stand unless it has strength in its own foundation; that races, like individuals, must stand or fall by their own merit; that to fully succeed they must practice the virtues of self-reliance, self-respect, industry, perseverance, and economy.
- Paul Robeson, 91
If you cain’t bear no crosses, You cain’t wear no crown.
- African-American Spiritual, 96
Source: Janes Cheatham Bell, ed. Famous Black Quotations. New York: Warner Books, Inc., 1995.
