TO:
DCCCD Board Members
FROM:
Dr. Wright L. Lassiter, Jr.
DATE:
February 20, 2013
RE:
Weekend Memo #316
AFRICAN-AMERICAN EXPRESSIONS
In this final commentary for the month in which the nation salutes and celebrates
African-American history, I want to share some thoughts and expressions that celebrate the
wisdom, wit and humor of African Americans. The great bonds of the human race are our
spirit, our compassion, our courage, and . . . our sense of humor. These great qualities know
no gender, sex, race, or age.
Ponder the points in this commentary that seeks to encapsulate practical ideas on
making the best of who you are. Some are quotations and others are expressions that I use in
talks and in writing. For those who speak to groups during the month of February, you may
find some helpful nuggets for future use.
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“A mind is a terrible thing to waste.” (United Negro College Fund motto)
“No matter what great things you accomplish, somebody helps you.” (Wilma Rudolph,
Olympic champion)
“I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.”
(Bill Cosby)
Friendship is like a bank deposit. You can’t continue to draw on it without making
deposits.
Doubt your doubts instead of your beliefs.
It is amazing what can be accomplished if no one cares who gets the credit.
“It takes two wings for a bird to fly.” (Reverend Jesse Jackson)
The world hungers for positive attitudes.
It is better to attempt great things and fail than to attempt small things and win.
Our ideas will work . . . if we do!
“The single most important goal for a student athlete — whether male or female —
should be to achieve a good education.” (Alan Page)
Criticism is the easiest form of mental activity . . . creativity is the toughest.
The best way to predict the future is to create it.
“Somebody will always break your records. It is how you live that counts.” “If it
weren’t for the dark days, we wouldn’t know what it is to work in the light.” (Earl
Campbell)
“One man can be a crucial ingredient on a team, but one man cannot make a team.”
(Kareem Abdul-Jabbar)
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“You could be the world’s best garbage man, the world’s best model; it doesn’t matter
what you do if you’re the best.” (Muhammad Ali)
Don’t die before you’re dead.
“If it had not been for the wind in my face, I wouldn’t be able to fly at all.” (Arthur
Ashe)
One who never makes any mistakes, never makes anything.
Romance is about the little things.
Dare to dream, dare to try, dare to fail — dare to succeed.
“I’ve always tried to project everything positive. People say you need role models in the
world, and people are asking for them, and I never thought that a role model should be
negative.” (Michael Jordan)
“Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.” “A sense of shame is not a bad moral
compass.” (General Colin Powell)
Live simply that others may simply live.
The more you depend on forces outside yourself, the more you are dominated by them.
There are no short cuts to any place worth going.
“There are 40 kinds of lunacy, but only one kind of common sense.” (African Proverb)
Man cannot discover new oceans until he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.
To dream of the person you would like to be is to waste the person you are.
The best things in life aren’t things.
You can’t get ahead when you’re getting even.
“Everybody can be great because anybody can serve.” (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.)
“The purpose of art is to lay bare the questions which have been hidden by the
answers.” (James Baldwin)
“If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” (Frederick Douglass)
“There are few things in the world as dangerous as sleepwalkers.” (Ralph Ellison)
“There are two ways of exerting one’s strength: one is pushing down, the other is
pulling up.” (Booker T. Washington)
“No one tests the depths of a river with both feet.” (African Proverb)
“To name something is to wait for it in the place you think it will pass.” (Amiri Baraka)
“No person is a friend who demands your silence.” (Alice Walker)
“A man who won’t die for something is not fit to live.” (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.)
“I didn’t fight for money; I fought for the pride of being champion.” (Sugar Ray
Robinson)
“If you want to keep your milk sweet, leave it in the cow.” (African Proverb)
“He who fears is literally delivered to destruction.” (Dr. Howard Thurman)
“When I discover who I am, I’ll be free.” (Ralph Ellison)
“The truth about injustice always sounds outrageous.” (James H. Cove)
“Violence always rebounds, always returns home.” (Lerone Bennett, Jr.)
“Cease to be a drudge; seek to be an artist.” (Mary McLeod Bethune)
“We must reinforce argument with results.” (Booker T. Washington)
“Truth is proper and beautiful in all times and in all places.” (Frederick Douglass)
“If you can’t bear crosses, you can’t wear a crown.” (African-American spiritual)
“Love supersedes all armies.” (Dick Gregory)
“I believe that unconditional love will have the final word.” (Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr.)
Love is infinite.
“With courage and initiative, leaders change things.” (Reverend Jesse Jackson)
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time.
“No one rises to low expectations.” (Les Brown)
“The mind does not take its complexion from the skin.” (Frederick Douglass)
“When you are looking for obstacles, you can’t find opportunities.” (J.C. Bell)
“Opportunity follows struggle.” (Shelby Steele)
“Real education means to inspire people.” (Carter G. Woodson)
“We must stimulate and encourage the creative mind.” (George Washington Carver)
“We see things not as they are, but as we are.” (Dennis Kimbro)
“Man cannot live by profit alone.” (James Baldwin)
“Remember, to hate, to be violent, is demeaning.” (James Baldwin)
While there’s life, there’s hope.
We need the rocks in the road.
We can all do more than we think we can.
The appropriate ending for this listing is — just food for thought, colleagues. Until next
The “regular” Weekend Memo will resume next week. The Chancellor wanted to share
these Black History Month expressions as the month of February comes to an end.
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