Marian Anderson Quotations

When you stop having dreams and ideals - well, you might as well stop altogether.

None of us is responsible for the complexion of his skin. This fact of nature offers no clue to the character or quality of the person underneath.

I have a great belief in the future of my people and my country.

A singer starts by having his instrument as a gift from God... When you have been given something in a moment of grace, it is sacrilegious to be greedy.

Prejudice is like a hair across your cheek. You can't see it, you can't find it with your fingers, but you keep brushing at it because the feel of it is irritating.

You lose a lot of time, hating people.

I forgave the DAR many years ago. You lose a lot of time hating people.

As long as you keep a person down, some part of you has to be down there to hold him down, so it means you cannot soar as you otherwise might.

I suppose I might insist on making issues of things. But that is not my nature, and I always bear in mind that my mission is to leave behind me the kind of impression that will make it easier for those who follow.

When I sing, I don't want them to see that my face is black; I don't want them to see that my face is white - I want them to see my soul. And that is colorless.

Fear is a disease that eats away at logic and makes man inhuman.

There are many persons ready to do what is right because in their hearts they know it is right. But they hesitate, waiting for the other fellow to make the make the first move - and he, in turn, waits for you.

The minute a person whose word means a great deal to others dare to take the open-hearted and courageous way, many others follow.

Leadership should be born out of the understanding of the needs of those who would be affected by it.

It could be she can't find a job and she doesn't know what to do, ... There are mothers out there who just have no idea. You need to keep up with your child. But we're here to help moms with their children...we're not just going to listen to them and leave.

It is easy to look back, self-indulgently, feeling pleasantly sorry for oneself and saying I didn't have this and I didn't have that. But it is only the grown woman regretting the hardships of a little girl who never thought they were hardships at all. She had the things that really mattered.

You have two bites at the local apple before you have to go to court,

No matter how big a nation is, it is no stronger that its weakest people, and as long as you keep a person down, some part of you has to be down there to hold him down, so it means you cannot soar as you might otherwise

A singer starts by having his instrument as a gift from God . . . When you have been given something in a moment of grace, it is sacrilegious to be greedy.

Sometimes you're overwhelmed when a thing comes, and you do not realize the magnitude of the affair at that moment. When you get away from it, you wonder, did it really happen to you.

The minute a person whose word means a great deal dares to take the open-hearted and courageous way, many others follow.

I had gone to Europe . . . to reach for a place as a serious artist, but I never doubted that I must return. I was - and am - an American.

A person has to be busy to be alive.

Where there is money, there is fighting.

You can't build a chimney from the top, you know.

None of us is responsible for the...

You cannot fool an audience.

Prayer begins where human capacity ends.

Leadership should be born out of the understanding of the needs of those who would be affected by it

Every one has a gift for something, even if it is the gift of being a good friend.

If you have a purpose in which you can believe, there's no end to the amount of things you can accomplish.

Prejudice: Sometimes it's like a hair across your cheek. You can't see it, you can't find it with your fingers, but you keep brushing at it because the feel of it is irritating.