John H. Johnson

“My mother was my first and most important role model.”

“If you can somehow think and dream of success in small steps, every time you make a step, every time you accomplish a small goal, it gives you courage to go on.”

“I believe that you can't have a color-blind society until you have a color-blind economy.”

“Failure is a word I don't accept.”

“I believe the greater the handicap, the greater the triumph.”

“There is no defense against an idea whose time has come.”

“I wanted to give black people a sense of somebodiness, a sense of self-respect.”

“I had to create my own market.”

“To succeed, you need a certain amount of daring, a certain amount of caution.”

“You have to have a dream, a goal. And you have to be willing to work for it.”