If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else. — Booker T. Washington · Smartyfair

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If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else. — Booker T. Washington · Smartyfair

If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.

Booker T. Washington1856–1915 · educator · 1800s-1900s USABooker T. Washington was born into slavery and went on to become a leading African American educator, author, and advisor to U.S. presidents.1 quote

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In plain words

Helping someone else up is what lifts you too.

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Where these words come from

How sure this is: 60% sureLots of sources credit Booker T. Washington with this, and they agree with each other. The book or the speech it first came from hasn't turned up yet.
What turned up: Paraphrase of Booker T. Washington, The Story of My Life and Work (1900), ch. XV: 'the best way to lift one's self up is to help some one else'
Sources checked: quoteinvestigator.comChecked using claude-sonnet-5, 20 August 2026

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