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.

W. E. B. Du Bois

The power of the ballot we need in sheer defense, else what shall save us from a second slavery?

W. E. B. Du Bois

Most men today cannot conceive of a freedom that does not involve somebody's slavery.

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

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

Strive for that greatness of spirit that measures life not by its disappointments but by its possibilities.

W. E. B. Du Bois

The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line.

W. E. B. Du Bois

America is not another word for Opportunity to all her sons.

W. E. B. Du Bois

Believe in life! Always human beings will progress to greater, broader, and fuller life.

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

The cost of liberty is less than the price of repression.

W. E. B. Du Bois