"People who own property feel a sense of ownership in their future and their society. They study, save, work, strive and vote. And people trapped in a culture of tenancy do not."

Motivation

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Insight & Reflection

When Henry Louis Gates speaks about motivation, it invites us to pause and reflect on our own journey. How often do we consider the subtle impacts of motivation in our daily lives? This thought-provoking perspective challenges conventional wisdom and encourages a deeper understanding of ourselves.

About Henry Louis Gates

Henry Louis Gates Jr., popularly known by his childhood nickname "Skip", is an American literary critic, professor, historian, and filmmaker who serves as the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and the director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University. He is a trustee of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. He rediscovered the earliest known African-American novels and has published extensively on the recognition of African-American literature as part of the Western canon.

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Editorial Note: This quote is curated and fact-checked by the Quotes Archive Editorial Team. Verified Literature Specialist.

More by Henry Louis Gates

"I think that the roots of racism have always been economic, and I think people are desperate and scared. And when you're desperate and scared you scapegoat people. It exacerbates latent tendencies toward - well, toward racism or homophobia or anti-Semitism."

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"In America there is institutional racism that we all inherit and participate in, like breathing the air in this room - and we have to become sensitive to it."

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"For as long as I can remember, I have been passionately intrigued by 'Africa,' by the word itself, by its flora and fauna, its topographical diversity and grandeur; but above all else, by the sheer variety of the colors of its people, from tan and sepia to jet and ebony."

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"The bottom line is that Wanda Sykes has the longest continuously documented family tree of any African-American we have ever researched."

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More about Motivation

"Strive today so that tomorrow may stand upon solid ground. Let this simple maxim guide your daily deeds — an essential principle for the reflective life."

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