There could be something wrong with me because I see Negroes neither better nor worse than any other race. Race pride is a luxury I cannot afford. There are too many implications bend the term. Now, suppose a Negro does something really magnificent, and I glory, not in the benefit to mankind, but the fact that the doer was a Negro. Must I not also go hang my head in shame when a member of my race does something execrable? If I glory, then the obligation is laid upon me to blush also. I do glory when a Negro does something fine, I gloat because he or she has done a fine thing, but not because he was a Negro. That is incidental and accidental. It is the human achievement which I honor. I execrate a foul act of a Negro but again not on the grounds that the doer was a Negro, but because it was foul. A member of my race just happened to be the fouler of humanity. In other words, I know that I cannot accept responsibility for thirteen million people. Every tub must sit on its own bottom regardless. So 'Race Pride' in me had to go. And anyway, why should I be proud to be Negro? Why should anyone be proud to be white? Or yellow? Or red? After all, the word 'race' is a loose classification of physical characteristics. I tells nothing about the insides of people. Pointing a achievements tells nothing either. Races have never done anything. What seems race achievement is the work of individuals. The white race did not go into a laboratory and invent incandescent light. That was Edison. The Jews did not work out Relativity. That was Einstein. The Negros did not find out the inner secrets of peanuts and sweet potatoes, nor the secret of the development of the egg. That wad Carver and Just. If you are under the impression that every white man is Edison, just look around a bit. If you have the idea that every Negro is a Carver, you had better take off plenty of time to do your searching. Zora Neale Hurston
Some Similar Quotes
  1. I don't care if you're black, white, straight, bisexual, gay, lesbian, short, tall, fat, skinny, rich or poor. If you're nice to me, I'll be nice to you. Simple as that. - Robert Michaels

  2. That was when it was all made painfully clear to me. When you are a child, there is joy. There is laughter. And most of all, there is trust. <span style="margin:15px; display:block"></span>Trust in your fellows. When you are an adult..then comes suspicion, hatred, and fear.... - Peter David

  3. Be grateful for what you already have while you pursue your goals. If you aren’t grateful for what you already have, what makes you think you would be happy with more. - Roy T. Bennett

  4. It’s only after you’ve stepped outside your comfort zone that you begin to change, grow, and transform. - Roy T. Bennett

  5. Success is not how high you have climbed, but how you make a positive difference to the world. - Roy T. Bennett

More Quotes By Zora Neale Hurston
  1. To fall in love with God is the greatest romance; to seek him the greatest adventure; to find him, the greatest human achievement.

  2. Once for all, then, a short precept is given thee: Love, and do what thou wilt: whether thou hold thy peace, through love hold thy peace; whether thou cry out, through love cry out; whether thou correct, through love correct; whether thou spare, through love...

  3. Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore, seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand.

  4. In my deepest wound I saw your glory, and it dazzled me.

  5. I held my heart back from positively accepting anything, since I was afraid of another fall, and in this condition of suspense I was being all the more killed.

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