33 Dorothy Height Quotes

African American campaigner for civil rights and women, Dorothy Height, was the president of the National Council of Negro Women.

Height is acknowledged as being the first civil rights movement figure to acknowledge the inequity experienced by women and African Americans. Height joined as a civil rights activist in the National Council and was awarded numerous awards, including Congressional Gold Medal and Presidential Medal.

Height went to New York University where she earned both her undergraduate and master's degree. She has often talked about several issues like equality, freedom, and the black community.

Read out these awesome quotes from Dorothy Height that one must know.

"We’ve got to work to save our children and do it with full respect for the fact that if we do not, no one else is going to do it."

"Without community service, we would not have a strong quality of life. It's important to the person who serves as well as the recipient. It's the way in which we ourselves grow and develop."

"You never teach a subject, you always teach a child. You teach children in a way that they will learn, and then things will fall in place for them."

"As we move forward, let us also look back. So long as we remember those who died for our right to vote and those like John H. Johnson who built empires where there were none, we will walk into the future with unity and strength."

“I think of my life as a unity of circles. Some are concentric, others overlap, but they all connect in some way. Sometimes the connections don't happen for years. But when they do, I marvel. As in a shimmering kaleidoscope, familiar patterns keep unfolding.”

" I was inspired by Mary McLeod Bethune, not only to be concerned but to use whatever talent I had to be of some service in the community."

" It was not easy for those of us who had become symbols of the struggle for equality to see our children raising their fists in defiant contradiction of all we had fought for."

"The essence of leadership is responding to human need."

“We are not a problem people; we are a people with problems.”

"I am the product of many whose lives have touched mine, from the famous, distinguished, and powerful to the little known and the poor."

"But we’re all in the same boat now, and we’ve got to learn to work together."

"We had people of all backgrounds coming together – all races, all creeds, all colors, all status in life. And coming together there was a kind of quiet dignity and a kind of sense of caring and a feeling of joint responsibility."

"…even if you are a token, you have an important function to fulfill."

"All you need to do is organize your butterflies."

"We have to realize we are building a movement."

"Progress comes from caring more about what needs to be done than about who gets the credit."

Check out these Dorothy Height quotes on rights and know what it's all about.

"Civil rights are civil rights. There are no persons who are not entitled to their civil rights. We have to recognize that we have a long way to go, but we have to go that way together."

"There is no contradiction between effective law enforcement and respect for civil and human rights."

"Dr. King did not stir us to move for our civil rights to have them taken away in these kinds of fashions."

"As we move forward, let us also look back."

"So long as we remember those who died for our right to vote and those like John H. Johnson who built empires where there were none, we will walk into the future with unity and strength."

Check out these awesome Dorothy Height quotes on motivation and be ready to get motivated!

"Greatness is not measured by what a man or woman accomplishes, but by the opposition he or she has overcome to reach his goals."

"We have to improve life, not just for those who have the most skills and those who know how to manipulate the system. But also for and with those who often have so much to give but never get the opportunity."

"I want to be remembered as someone who used herself and anything she could touch to work for justice and freedom…. I want to be remembered as one who tried."

"If you worry about who is going to get credit, you don’t get much work done."

"My mother helped me understand how not to show off what I knew, but how to use it so that others might benefit."

"No one will do for you what you need to do for yourself. We cannot afford to be separate. We have to see that all of us are in the same boat."

"If the time is not ripe, we have to ripen the time."

Check out these interesting Dorothy Height quotes on the black community.

"We have historic strengths; we have survived because of family."

"The Black family of the future will foster our liberation, enhance our self-esteem, and shape our ideas and goals."

"When we started using the term 'Black,' it was more than a color. It came at a time when our young people in marches and sit-ins made the cry 'Black Power.' It represented the Black experience in the United States and the Black experience of those throughout the world who were oppressed."

"A Negro woman has the same kind of problems as other women, but she can't take the same things for granted."

"When you're a black woman, you seldom get to do what you just want to do; you always do what you have to do."