Capitalism cannot reform itself; it is doomed to self-destruction. W. E. B. Du Bois More Quotes by W. E. B. Du Bois More Quotes From W. E. B. Du Bois This the American black man knows: his fight here is a fight to the finish. Either he dies or wins. If he wins it will be by no subterfuge or evasion of amalgamation . He will enter modern civilization here in America as a black man on terms of perfect and unlimited equality with any white man, or he will enter not at all. Either extermination root and branch, or absolute equality. There can be no compromise. This is the last great battle of the west. W. E. B. Du Bois fighting winning men It is the wind and the rain, O God, the cold and the storm that make this earth of yours to blossom and bear its fruit. So in our lives it is storm and stress and hurt and suffering that make real men and women bring the world's work to its highest perfection. W. E. B. Du Bois stress real hurt I refused to teach Sunday school. When Archdeacon Henry Phillips, my last rector, died, I flatly refused again to join any church or sign any church creed. From my 30th year on I have increasingly regarded the church as an institution which defended such evils as slavery, color caste, exploitation of labor and war. W. E. B. Du Bois sunday war school The favorite device of the devil, ancient and modern, is to force a human being into a more or less artificial class, accuse the class of unnamed and unnameable sin, and then damn any individual in the alleged class, however innocent he may be. W. E. B. Du Bois diversity justice class Perhaps the most extraordinary characteristic of current America is the attempt to reduce life to buying and selling. Life is not love unless love is sex and bought and sold. Life is not knowledge save knowledge of technique, of science for destruction. Life is not beauty except beauty for sale. Life is not art unless its price is high and it is sold for profit. All life is production for profit, and for what is profit but for buying and selling again? W. E. B. Du Bois love-is sex art There is but one coward on earth, and that is the coward that dare not know. W. E. B. Du Bois coward earth courage I most sincerely doubt if any other race of women could have brought its fineness up through so devilish a fire. W. E. B. Du Bois black race fire It is the growing custom to narrow control, concentrate power, disregard and disenfranchise the public; and assuming that certain powers by divine right of money-raising or by sheer assumption, have the power to do as they think best without consulting the wisdom of mankind. W. E. B. Du Bois divine-right power thinking The cause of war is preparation for war. W. E. B. Du Bois causes preparation war Ignorance is a cure for nothing. W. E. B. Du Bois cures ignorance The cost of liberty is less than the price of repression. W. E. B. Du Bois memorial-day inspiring inspirational The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line, -- the relation of the darker to the lighter races of men in Asia and Africa, in America and the islands of the sea. W. E. B. Du Bois race islands men The power of the ballot we need in sheer defense, else what shall save us from a second slavery? W. E. B. Du Bois slavery defense needs The function of the university is not simply to teach breadwinning, or to furnish teachers for the public schools, or to be a centre of polite society; if is, above all, to be the organ of that fine adjustment between real life and the growing knowledge of life, an adjustment from which forms the secret of civilization. W. E. B. Du Bois education teacher graduation I believe in Liberty for all men: the space to stretch their arms and their souls; the right to breathe and the right to vote, the freedom to choose their friends, enjoy the sunshine, and ride on the railroads, uncursed by color; thinking, dreaming, working as they will in a kingdom of beauty and love. W. E. B. Du Bois sunshine dream believe There can be no perfect democracy curtailed by color, race, or poverty. But with all we accomplish all, even peace. W. E. B. Du Bois color race perfect No universal selfishness can bring social good to all. W. E. B. Du Bois social-good selfishness social But we do not merely protest; we make renewed demand for freedom in that vast kingdom of the human spirit where freedom has ever had the right to dwell:the expressing of thought to unstuffed ears; the dreaming of dreams by untwisted souls. W. E. B. Du Bois soul ears dream Men must not only know, they must act. W. E. B. Du Bois knows men How shall Integrity face Oppression? What shall Honesty do in the face of Deception, Decency in the face of Insult, Self-Defense before Blows? How shall Desert and Accomplishment meet Despising, Detraction, and Lies? What shall Virtue do to meet Brute Force? There are so many answers and so contradictory; and such differences for those on the one hand who meet questions similar to this once a year or once a decade, and those who face them hourly and daily. W. E. B. Du Bois honesty integrity lying
