Madam C. J. Walker quotes: early self-made multimillionaire’s most inspiring words.
“There is no royal flower-strewn path to success. And if there is, I have not found it… for if I have accomplished anything in life it is because I have been willing to work hard.”
“I had to make my own living and my own opportunity. But I made it! Don’t sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. Get up and make them.”
“One can slide between poor and rich, the difference as slight as between paper and parchment, one voice and a choir, arms hanging by sides and a hug.”
“I got my start by giving myself a start.”
“Perseverance is my motto.”
“It’s pretty hard for the Lord to guide you if you haven’t made up your mind which way to go.”
“I am not merely satisfied in making money for myself, for I am endeavoring to provide employment for hundreds of women of my race. I want to say to every Negro woman present, don’t sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. Get up and make them!”
“I want you to understand that your first duty is to humanity. I want others to look at us and see that we care not just about ourselves but about others.”
“I want the great masses of my people to take a greater pride in their personal appearance and to give their hair proper attention.”
“Keep in mind that you have something that the person standing before you really needs. Imagine yourself a missionary and convert him.”
“One night I had a dream, and in that dream a big black man appeared to me and told me what to mix up for my hair. I made up my mind I would begin to sell it. There would be no hair growing business today had I not started it.”
“There would be no hair growing business today had I not started it.”
“I have built my own factory on my own ground!”
“Surely you are not going to shut the door in my face. I feel that I am in a business that is a credit to the womanhood of our race.”
“Now I realize that in the so-called higher walks of life, many were prone to look down upon ‘hair dressers’ as they called us; they didn’t have a very high opinion of our calling, so I had to go down and dignify this work, so much so that many of the best women of our race are now engaged in this line of business, and many of them are now in my employ.”
“I have made it possible for many colored women to abandon the wash tub for more pleasant and profitable occupation.”
“Girls and women of our race must not be afraid to take hold of a business endeavor and, by patient industry, close economy, determined effort, and close application to business, wring success out of a number of business opportunities that lie at their doors.”
“You might say that I was the first and caused others to awaken to the sense of their duty in helping deserving causes for the benefit of the race.”
“I am a woman who came from the cotton fields of the South. From there I was promoted to the wash tub. From there I was promoted to the cook kitchen. And from there I promoted myself into the business of manufacturing hair goods and preparations.”
“Everybody told me I was making a mistake by going into this business, but I know how to grow hair as well as I know how to grow cotton.”
“I am not ashamed of my past. I am not ashamed of my humble beginning.”
“If I have accomplished anything in life it is because I have been willing to work hard.”
“It’s time to give up the working-class mentality of making money off of what you ‘do’ and start making money off of what you ‘know.’
“America doesn’t respect anything but money. What our people need is a few millionaires.”
