William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was an American sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, Pan-Africanist, author, writer and editor. Profoundly inspirational W.E.B. Du Bois quotes will brighten up your day and make you feel ready to take on anything.
Famous W.E.B. Du Bois Quotes
Daily the Negro is coming more and more to look upon law and justice, not as protecting safeguards, but as sources of humiliation and oppression. The laws are made by men who have little interest in him; they are executed by men who have absolutely no motive for treating the black people with courtesy or consideration; and, finally, the accused law breaker is tried, not by his peers, but too often by men who would rather punish ten innocent Negroes than let one guilty one escape. W. E. B. Du Bois
Whether you like it or not, millions are here, and here they will remain. If you do not lift them up, they will pull you down. Education must not simply teach work, it must teach life. W. E. B. Du Bois
To be a poor man is hard, but to be a poor race in a land of dollars is the very bottom of hardships. W. E. B. Du Bois
Now is the accepted time, not tomorrow, not some more convenient season. It is today that our best work can be done and not some future day or future year. It is today that we fit ourselves for the greater usefulness of tomorrow. Today is the seed time, now are the hours of work, and tomorrow comes the harvest and the playtime. W. E. B. Du Bois
Now is the accepted time, not tomorrow, not some more convenient season. It is today that our best work can be done. W. E. B. Du Bois
The function of the university is not simply to teach breadwinning, or to furnish teachers for the public schools, or to be a center of polite society; it is, above all, to be the organ of that fine adjustment between real life and the growing knowledge of life, an adjustment which forms the secret of civilization. W. E. B. Dubois
In 1956, I shall not go to the polls. I have not registered. I believe that democracy has so far disappeared in the United States that no ‘two evils’ exist. There is but one evil party with two names, and it will be elected despite all I can do or say. W. E. B. Du Bois
The return from your work must be the satisfaction which that work brings you and the world’s need of that work. With this, life is heaven, or as near heaven as you can get. Without this with work which you despise, which bores you, and which the world does not need this life is hell. W. E. B. Dubois
Today I see more clearly than yesterday that the back of the problem of race and color lies a greater problem which both obscures and implements it: and that is the fact that so many civilized persons are willing to live in comfort even if the price of this is poverty, ignorance, and disease of the majority of their fellow men. W. E. B. Du Bois
There is in this world, no such force as the force of a person determined to rise. The human soul cannot be permanently chained. W.E.B. Du Bois
Ignorance is a cure for nothing. W. E. B. Du Bois
Be honest, frank and fearless and get some grasp of the real values of life Read some good, heavy, serious books just for discipline: Take yourself in hand and master yourself. W.E.B. Du Bois
Oppression costs the oppressor too much if the oppressed stands up and protests. The protest need not be merely physical the throwing of stones and bullets is mental, spiritual; if it expresses itself in silent, persistent dissatisfaction, the cost to the oppressor is terrific. W. E. B. Du Bois
In all things purely social we can be as separate as the five fingers, and yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress. W.E.B. Du Bois
Begin with art, because art tries to take us outside ourselves. It is a matter of trying to create an atmosphere and context so conversation can flow back and forth and we can be influenced by each other. W. E. B. Du Bois
And yet this does not touch the kernel of the problem. Human advancement is not a mere question of almsgiving, but rather of sympathy and cooperation among classes who would scorn charity. W.E.B. Du Bois
I am especially glad of the divine gift of laughter: it has made the world human and lovable, despite all its pain and wrong. W. E. B. Du Bois
When you have mastered numbers, you will in fact no longer be reading numbers, any more than you read words when reading books. You will be reading meanings. W.E.B. Dubois
I believe that all men, black and brown, and white, are brothers, varying, through Time and Opportunity, in form and gift and feature, but differing in no essential particular, and alike in soul and in the possibility of infinite development. W. E. B. Du Bois
A little less complaint and whining, and a little more dogged work and manly striving would do us more credit than a thousand civil rights bills. W.E.B. Du Bois
There may often be an excuse for doing things poorly in this world, but there is never any excuse for calling a poorly done thing, well done. W. E. B. Du Bois
The future woman must have a life work and economic independence. She must have the right of motherhood at her own discretion. W. E. B. Du Bois
No universal selfishness can bring social good to all. W. E. B. Du Bois
The cost of liberty is less than the price of repression. W. E. B. Dubois
Unfortunately there was one thing that the white South feared more than Negro dishonesty, ignorance, and incompetency, and that was Negro honesty, knowledge, and efficiency. W. E. B. Du Bois
I have loved my work, I have loved people and my play, but always I have been uplifted by the thought that what I have done well will live long and justify my life, that what I have done ill or never finished can now be handed on to others for endless days to be finished, perhaps better than I could have done. W. E. B. Du Bois
Honest and earnest criticism from those whose interests are most nearly touched, criticism of writers by readers, of government by those governed, of leaders by those led, this is the soul of democracy and the safeguard of modern society W. E. B. Du Bois
One thing alone I charge you. As you live, believe in life! Always human beings will live and progress to greater, broader and fuller life. The only possible death is to lose belief in this truth simply because the great end comes slowly, because time is long. W. E. B. Du Bois
This the American black man knows: his fight here is a fight to the finish. Either he dies or wins. If he wins it will be by no subterfuge or evasion of amalgamation. He will enter modern civilization here in America as a black man on terms of perfect and unlimited equality with any white man, or he will enter not at all. Either extermination root and branch, or absolute equality. There can be no compromise. This is the last great battle of the west. W. E. B. Du Bois
I insist that the object of all true education is not to make men carpenters, it is to make carpenters men.W. E. B. Du Bois
It is the growing custom to narrow control, concentrate power, disregard and disenfranchise the public; and assuming that certain powers by divine right of money raising or by sheer assumption, have the power to do as they think best without consulting the wisdom of mankind. W. E. B. Du Bois
Education is that whole system of human training within and without the school house walls, which molds and develops men. W. E. B. Du Bois
There is but one coward on earth, and that is the coward that dare not know. W. E. B. Du Bois
And yet this very singleness of vision and thorough oneness with his age is a mark of the successful man. It is as though nature needs must make men narrow in order to give them force. W. E. B. Dubois
Men must not only know, they must act. W. E. B. Du Bois
The worker must work for the glory of his handiwork, not simply for pay; the thinker must think for truth, not for fame. W. E. B. Dubois
It is the wind and the rain, O God, the cold and the storm that make this earth of yours to blossom and bear its fruit. So in our lives it is storm and stress and hurt and suffering that make real men and women bring the world’s work to its highest perfection. W. E. B. Du Bois
The theory of democratic government is not that the will of the people is always right, but rather that normal human beings of average intelligence will, if given a chance, learn the right and best course by bitter experience. W. E. B. Dubois
The power of the ballot we need in sheer defense, else what shall save us from a second slavery? W. E. B. Du Bois
A system cannot fail those who it was never meant to protect. W. E. B. Dubois
The chief problem in any community cursed with crime is not the punishment of the criminals, but the prevention of the young from being trained to crime. WEB Du Bois Quotes
Men we shall have only as we make manhood the object of the work of the schools intelligence, broad sympathy, knowledge of the world that was and is, and of the relation of men to it this is the curriculum of that Higher Education which must underlie true life. W.E. B. Dubois
I believe in Liberty for all men: the space to stretch their arms and their souls; the right to breathe and the right to vote, the freedom to choose their friends, enjoy the sunshine, and ride on the railroads, uncursed by color; thinking, dreaming, working as they will in a kingdom of beauty and love. W. E. B. Du Bois
The chief problem in any community cursed with crime is not the punishment of the criminals, but the preventing of the young from being trained to crime. W. E. B. Du Bois
The favorite device of the devil, ancient and modern, is to force a human being into a more or less artificial class, accuse the class of unnamed and unnameable sin, and then damn any individual in the alleged class, however innocent he may be. W. E. B. Du Bois
There can be no perfect democracy curtailed by color, race, or poverty. But with all we accomplish all, even peace. W. E. B. Du Bois
The cost of liberty is less than the price of repression. W. E. B. Du Bois
There may often be excuse for doing things poorly in this world, but there is never any excuse for calling a poorly done thing, well done. W. E. B. Du Bois
We shall never secure emancipation from the tyranny of the white oppressor until we have achieved it in our own souls. W. E. B. Du Bois
We shall never secure emancipation from the tyranny of the white oppressor until we have achieved it in our own souls. W. E. B. Du Bois
I most sincerely doubt if any other race of women could have brought its fineness up through such a devilish fire. W. E. B. Du Bois
Today I see more clearly than yesterday that the back of the problem of race and color lies a greater problem which both obscures and implements it: and that is the fact that so many civilized persons are willing to live in comfort even if the price of this is poverty, ignorance, and disease of the majority of their fellow men. W. E. B. Du Bois
There can be no perfect democracy curtailed by color, race, or poverty. But with all we accomplish all, even peace. W. E. B. Du Bois
The chief problem in any community cursed with crime is not the punishment of the criminals, but the preventing of the young from being trained to crime. W. E. B. Du Bois
The worker must work for the glory of his handiwork, not simply for pay; the thinker must think for truth, not for fame. W. E. B. Du Bois
Children learn more from what you are than what you teach. W. E. B. Du Bois
I believe that all men, black and brown and white, are brothers, varying through time and opportunity, in form and gift and feature, but differing in no essential particular, and alike in soul and the possibility of infinite development. W. E. B. Du Bois
No universal selfishness can bring social good to all. W. E. B. Du Bois
Whether you like it or not the millions are here, and here they will remain. If you do not lift them up, they will pull you down Education must not simply teach work it must teach life. W. E. B. Du Bois
There is in this world no such force as the force of a person determined to rise. The human soul cannot be permanently chained. W. E. B. Du Bois
Would America have been America without her Negro people? W. E. B. Du Bois
This the American black man knows: his fight here is a fight to the finish. Either he dies or wins. If he wins it will be by no subterfuge or evasion of amalgamation . He will enter modern civilization here in America as a black man on terms of perfect and unlimited equality with any white man, or he will enter not at all. Either extermination root and branch, or absolute equality. There can be no compromise. This is the last great battle of the west. W. E. B. Du Bois
Progress in human affairs is more often a pull than a push, a surging forward of the exceptional man, and the lifting of his duller brethren slowly and painfully to his vantage ground. W. E. B. Du Bois
Nothing in the world is easier in the United States than to accuse a black man of crime. W. E. B. Du Bois
A little less complaint and whining, and a little more dogged work and manly striving, would do us more credit than a thousand civil rights bills. W. E. B. Du Bois
I am especially glad of the divine gift of laughter: it has made the world human and lovable, despite all its pain and wrong. W. E. B. Du Bois
Most men in this world are colored. A belief in humanity means a belief in colored men. The future world will, in all reasonable probability, be what colored men make it. W. E. B. Du Bois
Now is the accepted time, not tomorrow, not some more convenient season. It is today that our best work can be done. W. E. B. Du Bois
Perhaps the most extraordinary characteristic of current America is the attempt to reduce life to buying and selling. Life is not love unless love is sex and bought and sold. Life is not knowledge save knowledge of technique, of science for destruction. Life is not beauty except beauty for sale. Life is not art unless its price is high and it is sold for profit. All life is production for profit, and for what is profit but for buying and selling again? W. E. B. Du Bois
Oppression costs the oppressor too much if the oppressed stands up and protests. The protest need not be merely physical the throwing of stones and bullets if it is mental, spiritual; if it expresses itself in silent, persistent dissatisfaction, the cost to the oppressor is terrific. W. E. B. Du Bois
Believe in life! Human beings will live and progress to a greater, broader, and fuller life. W. E. B. Du Bois
Strive for that greatness of spirit that measures life not by its disappointments but by its possibilities. W. E. B. Du Bois
Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor, and the contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst. Breeds that forget this basic truth have always paid for it with their lives and freedoms. W. E. B. Du Bois
I believe in Liberty for all men: the space to stretch their arms and their souls; the right to breathe and the right to vote, the freedom to choose their friends, enjoy the sunshine, and ride on the railroads, uncursed by color; thinking, dreaming, working as they will in a kingdom of beauty and love. W. E. B. Du Bois
Lord of the springtime, Father of flower, field and fruit, smile on us in these earnest days when the work is heavy and the toil wearisome; lift up our hearts, O God, to the things worthwhile sunshine and night, the dripping rain, the song of the birds, books, and music, and the voices of our friends. Lift up our hearts to these nights and grant us Thy peace. Amen. W. E. B. Du Bois
There is no force equal to a woman determined to rise. W. E. B. Du Bois
One ever feels his twoness an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder. W. E. B. Du Bois
In 1956, I shall not go to the polls. I have not registered. I believe that democracy has so far disappeared in the United States that no ‘two evils’ exist. There is but one evil party with two names, and it will be elected despite all I can do or say. W. E. B. Du Bois
