Marian Anderson quotes:

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

You lose a lot of time, hating people.

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

Prayer begins where human capacity ends.

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.

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

Where there is money, there is fighting.

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.

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.

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

None of us is responsible for the...

You cannot fool an audience.

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.

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

A person has to be busy to be alive.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

There are many persons ready to do what is right because in their hearts they know it is right. But they hesitate, waiting for theother fellow to make the first move--and he, in turn, waits for you. The minute a person whose word means a great deal dares to take the open- hearted and courageous way, many others follow. Not everyone can be turned aside from meanness and hatred, but the great majority of Americans is heading in that direction. I have a great belief in the future of my people and my country.

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