W. E. B. Du Bois

Sociology American 1868 – 1963 98 quotes

A prominent sociologist, civil rights activist, and co-founder of the NAACP, known for his concept of 'double consciousness' and studies of race in America.

Quotes by W. E. B. Du Bois

I refuse to let my race be defined by others.

Interview 1933

The music of Negro life is indeed a bewitching thing.

Book 1903

Liberty trains for liberty.

Book 1899

The American Negro Academy is an organization of American Negroes.

Speech 1897

We claim for ourselves every single right that belongs to a freeborn American.

Speech 1905

The shadow of a mighty Negro past flits through the tale of Ethiopia the shadowy and of the Egypt the Sphinx.

Book 1903

I am a citizen of the world.

Autobiography 1952

The emancipation of man is the emancipation of labor.

Book 1933

One ever feels his twoness,—an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings.

Book 1903

The facing of so vast a prejudice could not but bring the inevitable self-questioning.

Book 1903

Work and save for the future.

Book 1899

The ideals of the American people are the noblest in the world.

Speech 1919

I have but one life to live.

Personal Reflection 1963

The Negro needs neither red cap nor platform to make his case clear.

Book 1903

Beauty is the watchword of the Negro Renaissance.

Essay 1925

In all sorrow, hope is the dry land of the soul.

Book 1903

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge.

Speech

Oppression costs the oppressor too much.

Book 1940