The actual sight of a first-class house that a Negro has built is ten times more potent than pages of discussion about a house that he ought to build, or perhaps could build.
Booker T. WashingtonRead
The world cares very little about what a man or woman knows; it is what the man or woman is able to do that counts.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Knowledge is less important than the ability to take action and create results.
This quote by Booker T. Washington emphasizes the importance of practical skills and the ability to implement knowledge rather than the mere possession of information. It suggests that true value lies in one's capacity to effect change and perform tasks, which is ultimately recognized and appreciated by the world.
Themes
ActionAbilityKnowledgeResultsPracticality
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can inspire a team during a motivational workshop to emphasize the importance of action over theory.
More from Booker T. Washington
All quotes βLeaders have devoted themselves to politics, little knowing, it seems _x000D_ that political independence disappears without economic independence _x000D_ that economic independence is the foundation of political independence.
Booker T. WashingtonRead
You go to school, you study about the Germans and the French, but not about your own race. I hope the time will come when you study black history too.
Booker T. WashingtonRead
Nothing ever comes to one, that is worth having, except as a result of hard work.
Booker T. WashingtonRead
I shall allow no man to belittle my soul by making me hate him.
Booker T. WashingtonRead
If I have done anything in life worth attention, I feel sure that I inherited the disposition from my mother.
Booker T. WashingtonRead
Similar quotes
We were young, we were foolish, we were arrogant, but we were right.
Daniel EllsbergRead
We are like dwarfs sitting on the shoulders of giants. We see more, and things that are more distant, than they did, not because our sight is superior or because we are taller than they, but because they raise us up, and by their great stature add to ours.
John Of SalisburyRead
The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the greatest intention.
Khalil GibranRead
Buy land. They ain't making any more of the stuff.
Will RogersRead
The search for truth is more precious than its possession.
Gotthold Ephraim LessingRead
"He passed over his fall, and appointed him first of the Apostles; wherefore He said: ' 'Simon, Simon,' etc. (in Ps. cxxix. 2). God allowed him to fall, because He meant to make him ruler over the whole world, that, remembering his own fall, he might forgive those who should slip in the future. And that what I have said is no guess, listen to Christ Himself saying: 'Simon, Simon, etc.'"
Saint John ChrysostomRead