- There are many persons ready to do what is right because in their hearts they know it is right. But they hesitate, waiting for the other fellow to make the first move--and he, waits for you. The minute a person whose word means a great deal dares to take the open-hearted and courageous way, many others follows. Not everyone can be turned aside from meanness and hatred, but the great majority of Americans is heading in that direction. I have a great belief in the future of my people and my country.
- As long as you keep a person down, some part of you has to be down there to hold him down, so it means you cannot soar as you otherwise might.
- I suppose I might insist on making issues of things. But that is not my nature, and I always bear in mind that my mission is to leave behind me the kind of impression that will make it easier for those who follow.
- Fear is a disease that eats away at logic and makes man inhuman.
- Prayer begins where human capacity ends.
- It is easy to look back, self-indulgently, feeling pleasantly sorry for oneself and saying I didn't have this and I didn't have that. But it is only the grown woman regretting the hardships of a little girl who never thought they were hardships at all. She had the things that really mattered.
- Prejudice is like a hair across your cheek. You can't see it, you can't find it with your fingers, but you keep brushing at it because the feel of it is irritating.
- You lose a lot of time, hating people.
- None of us is responsible for the complexion of his skin. This fact of nature offers no clue to the character or quality of the person underneath.
- Leadership should be born out of the understanding of the needs of those who would be affected by it.
Marian Anderson Quotes
By Jessica McElrath, About.com
Jan. 14, 1940
Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Carl Van Vechten collection.Suggested Reading
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