I would never allow anyone to give me money, no difference how badly I needed it. I wanted literally to earn my living.
— George Washington Carver
Anything will give up its secrets if you love it enough. Not only have I found that when I talk to the little flower or to the little peanut they will give up their secrets, but I have found that when I silently commune with people, they give up their secrets also - if you love them enough.
Human need is really a great spiritual vacuum which God seeks to fill... With one hand in the hand of a fellow man in need and the other in the hand of Christ, He could get across the vacuum.
No individual has any right to come into the world and go out of it without leaving behind him distinct and legitimate reasons for having passed through it.
When our thoughts - which bring actions - are filled with hate against anyone, Negro or white, we are in a living hell. That is as real as hell will ever be.
I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in.
From a child, I had an inordinate desire for knowledge and especially music, painting, flowers, and the sciences, Algebra being one of my favorite studies.
If you love it enough, anything will talk with you.
Where there is no vision, there is no hope.
It is not the style of clothes one wears, neither the kind of automobile one drives, nor the amount of money one has in the bank, that counts. These mean nothing. It is simply service that measures success.
No books ever go into my laboratory. The thing I am to do and the way are revealed to me the moment I am inspired to create something new. Without God to draw aside the curtain, I would be helpless. Only alone can I draw close enough to God to discover His secrets.
Years ago I went into my laboratory and said, 'Dear Mr. Creator, please tell me what the universe was made for?' The Great Creator answered, 'You want to know too much for that little mind of yours. Ask for something more your size, little man.'
Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.
Our creator is the same and never changes despite the names given Him by people here and in all parts of the world. Even if we gave Him no name at all, He would still be there, within us, waiting to give us good on this earth.
Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom.
I wanted to know the name of every stone and flower and insect and bird and beast. I wanted to know where it got its color, where it got its life - but there was no one to tell me.
Nothing is more beautiful than the loveliness of the woods before sunrise.
We have become 99 percent money mad. The method of living at home modestly and within our income, laying a little by systematically for the proverbial rainy day which is due to come, can almost be listed among the lost arts.
God cannot use you as He wishes until you come into the fullness of His Glory. Do not get alarmed, my friend, when doubts creep in. That is old Satan. Pray, pray, pray.
When you can do the common things of life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world.
Reading about nature is fine, but if a person walks in the woods and listens carefully, he can learn more than what is in books, for they speak with the voice of God.
Since new developments are the products of a creative mind, we must therefore stimulate and encourage that type of mind in every way possible.
How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these.
There is no short cut to achievement. Life requires thorough preparation - veneer isn't worth anything.
Fear of something is at the root of hate for others, and hate within will eventually destroy the hater.
