As we near tax time, we can’t help thinking about money – how much we have or don’t have. Since one of my deepest hopes for our community is that we recognize and leverage our economic prowess to improve our collective condition, I wanted to compile some powerful quotes on money. These are from some of our financial forefathers, past and present. I hope they inspire you to make wealth a part of your blueprint for personal liberation and happiness.

11 Inspirational Quotes on Money and Wealth from Our Financial Forefathers

1. Dr. Carter G. Woodson
2. Frederick Douglas
3. Booker T. Washington
4. Marcus Garvey
5. Malcolm X
6. Russell Simmons
7. Stokely Carmichael
8. George Subira
9. Dr. Boyce Watkins
10. Bishop T.D. Jakes
11. Dr. Dennis Kimbro

Dr. Carter G. Woodson

“When you control a man’s thinking you do not have to worry about his actions.”

“If the Negro in the ghetto must eternally be fed by the hand that pushes him into the ghetto, he will never become strong enough to get out of the ghetto.”

Frederick Douglass

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle.” 

Booker T. Washington

“At the bottom of education, at the bottom of politics, even at the bottom of religion, there must be for our race economic independence.”

Marcus Garvey

“There is no force like success, and that is why the individual makes all effort to surround himself throughout life with the evidence of it; as of the individual, so should it be of the nation.”

Malcolm X

“So our people not only have to be reeducated to the importance of supporting black business, but the black man himself has to be made aware of the importance of going into business. And once you and I go into business, we own and operate at least the businesses in our community.

What we will be doing is developing a situation wherein we will actually be able to create employment for the people in the community. And once you can create some employment in the community where you live it will eliminate the necessity of you and me having to act ignorantly and disgracefully, boycotting and picketing some practice some place else trying to beg him for a job.”

Russell Simmons

“I don’t think it is an exaggeration to say that financial literacy, economic empowerment, and wealth building is going to be the last leg of the civil rights movement. Because one step toward financial literacy takes you two steps toward personal empowerment.”

 

Stokely Carchimael

“It is a call for black people in this country to unite, to recognize their heritage, to build a sense of community. It is a call for black people to define their own goals, to lead their own organizations.”

George Subira

“People seem to be coming around to the idea that true freedom as an economic foundation and that economic development is in fact connected to the development of Black privately-owned business.”

Dr. Boyce Watkins

“One thing that’s true is that whether you are making a financial investment or an investment of the heart, you usually get what you give. What’s also true is that investing the wrong assets into the wrong places is a great way to end up broke (or broken).”

Bishop T.D. Jakes

“Any time you stop producing and focus only on consuming, you have nothing to be proud of, other than what you consume…if you don’t produce and wait on someone to hire you, and give you a vision,  you may not get there… and until we start taking over our community understanding our marketplace and get our lion’s share of the marketplace, will we never get up.“

Dr. Dennis Kimbro

“Over a seven year period, I can tell you unequivocally wealth is not a function of gender, not a function of race. It is not a function of circumstance. It is not a function of condition—how the cards were dealt, which side of the town you were born on,  but it is a function of choice, a function of discipline, and it is a function of effort, faith, and believing in yourself.”

BWMK Family: Have any of these quotes inspired you to make money and wealth a priority in your life? Who else should be added to this list?

Up Next: Sarah Rector: She Was The Richest Black Girl in the World, It’s a Shame We Barely Know Her Name

Editor’s Note – This post was originally published on February 13, 2014, and has been updated for quality and relevancy.