12 Quotes & Sayings By Marian Anderson

Marian Anderson is the first African-American woman to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She is also the first woman inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame and was inducted into the Library of Congress' Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. She is known as "the voice that changed America." Anderson has received honorary degrees from Yale, Princeton, Shippensburg, Pennsylvania State University, Howard University, and New York's Juilliard School. She received the Kennedy Center Honor in 1993.

Everyone has a gift for something, even if it is...
1
Everyone has a gift for something, even if it is the gift of being a good friend. Marian Anderson
2
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. Marian Anderson
3
Prayer begins where human capacity ends. Marian Anderson
4
When you stop having dreams and ideals - well, you might as well stop altogether. Marian Anderson
5
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. Marian Anderson
6
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. Marian Anderson
7
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. Marian Anderson
8
Fear is a disease that eats away at logic and makes man inhuman. Marian Anderson
9
Leadership should be born out of the understanding of the needs of those who would be affected by it. Marian Anderson
10
The minute a person whose word means a great deal to others dare to take the open-hearted and courageous way, many others follow. Marian Anderson
11
I have a great belief in the future of my people and my country. Marian Anderson