50 Quotes from Diverse Leaders

“When we’re talking about diversity, it’s not a box to check. It is a reality that should be deeply felt and held and valued by all of us.”?—Ava DuVernay

As speakers, authors, business owners, project managers and team leaders, we have a responsibility to feature wisdom from diverse thought-leaders in our communications.

I'm grateful to Mo Sahoo, an Intrigue Agency intern, for bringing this to my attention.

I quoted George Bernard Shaw in a staff meeting. None of these 20-somethings knew who I was talking about, He said, "Sam, you quote a lot of triple-named dead white guys. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, John F. Kennedy."

He was right. I was being myopic. Whether we're hosting an meeting, speaking, writing, or being interviewed, we have a responsibility to feature a diverse mix of insights.

Dr. Martin Luther King said, "The time is always right to do what is right."

He's right. And the time is always right to share and showcase what is right.

One way we can do that is to share diverse quotes in our communications to create more inclusive conversations, communities and cultures.

This is a start. You're invited to share these (with attribution to their originator) in staff meetings, community gatherings and training workshops to catalyze a discussion on how we can make a conscious effort to be more inclusive at work, at home, online and in public.

50 Quotes to Facilitate Conversations on Diversity and Inclusivity

1.??"We spend so much time being afraid of failure, being afraid of rejection. But regret is the thing we should fear most." - Trevor Noah?

2. "Always remember, you have within you the strength, patience and passion to change the world." - Harriet Tubman

3. "We've got to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they're falling in." - Desmond Tutu

4. "Some of us are not living our dreams because we're living our fears." - Les Brown

5. "Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilization." - Mahatma Gandhi

6. "In recognizing the humanity of our fellow beings, we pay ourselves the highest tribute." - Thurgood Marshall

7. "The point is not to pay back kindness, but to pass it on." - Julia Alvarez

8. “If now isn't a good time for the truth I don't see when we'll get to it." - Nikki Giovanni

9. "Hold fast to your dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly." - Langston Hughes

10.??“Never be limited by other people's limited imagination." - astronaut Dr. Mae Jamison

11.?"Civility isn't some optional value; it is the key to civilization." - Van Jones

12. “I firmly believe you never should spend your time being a former anything.” – Condoleezza Rice

13. “If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else." Booker T. Washington

14. “Be brave enough to be your true self.” – Queen Latifah

15. "The greatness of a man is not in the wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively." - Bob Marley

16. “I don’t think my story is over yet.” – Serena Williams

17. "A lot of times, we censor ourselves before the censor even gets there." - Spike Lee

18. “It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences." - Audre Lorde

19. "Last century, people competed with muscle. This century, it's not muscle, it's wisdom. If a person wants to be successful, he should have a high EQ." - Jack Ma

20. "Look closely at the present you're constructing, it should look like the future you're dreaming." - Alice Walker

21. “Find the good. It's all around you. Showcase it and you’ll start believing in it.” - Jesse Owens

22. "I got my start by giving myself a start." - Madame CJ Walker

23. "What you’re thinking is what you’re becoming."– Muhammad Ali

24. "I didn't learn to be quiet when I had an opinion. The reason they knew who I was is because I told them." Ursula Burns, Xerox CEO

25. "A life is not important except in the impact it has on others." - Jackie Robinson

26. “Hope and fear cannot occupy the same space. Invite one to stay.” - Maya Angelou

27. "Why would I think about missing a shot I haven't even taken yet." - Michael Jordan

28. “I no longer accept what I can’t change. I change what I can’t accept.” Angela Davis?

29. “We need to help students and parents cherish and preserve the ethnic and cultural diversity that nourishes and strengthens this community - and this nation." - Cesar Chavez

30. “You don’t make progress by standing on the sidelines, complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas." - Shirley Chisholm

31. "Hope is the bedrock of this nation. The belief that our destiny will be written for us, but by us, by all those men and women who are not content to settle for the world as it is, but who have the courage to remake the world as it should be." - Barack Obama

32. "You only have what you give. It's by spending yourself that you become rich." - Isabel Allende

33. "Let’s stop believing that our differences make us superior or inferior to one another."- Don Miguel Ruiz

34. "Hate is too great a burden to bear. It injures the hater more than it injures the hated." - Coretta Scott King

35. “Diversity in the world is a basic characteristic of human society, and also the key condition for a lively and dynamic world.” - Jintao Hu

36. "You cannot have those things you refuse to dream of." - Stacey Abrams

37. “There are years that ask questions and years that answer." - Zora Neale Hurston

38. "We have two lives, and the second begins when we realize we only have one." - Confucius

39. “If people don't want the best for you, they are not the best for you." - Gayle King

40. "I am an invisible man, simply because people refuse to see me." - Ralph Ellison

41. “One child, one teacher, one book, one pen can change the world.” - Malala Yousafzai

42. ""Diversity is about all of us figuring out how to walk through the world together." - Jacqueline Woodson

43. "Turn your wounds into wisdom." - Oprah Winfrey

44. "Nothing is built on stone; all is built on sand, but we must build as if the sand were stone." - Jorge Luis Borges

45. "Don't quit your day dream." - Alicia Keyes?

46. "Reality is wrong. Dreams are real." - Tupac Shakur?

47. “You’ve got to learn to leave the table when love’s no longer being served.”?—Nina Simone

48. "May your choices be based on your hopes and not your fears.” Nelson Mandela

49. "Everything about me that is different is what makes me special." - Misty Copeland

50. "We've got to be as clear-headed about human-beings as possible, because we are still each other's only hope." - James Baldwin

James Baldwin is right. We are each other's hope.

Let us go first and honor ALL human beings in our communications so we create a "rising tide" that elevates all involved.

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Sam Horn is the CEO of the Tongue Fu! Training Institute. Check out this free YouTube video with insights on DEI and use it to facilitate a conversation on this important issue.