"I shall allow no man to belittle my soul by making me hate him"

This quote by Booker T. Washington talks to the power of the private to manage their own feelings and reactions. He is saying that no matter what somebody else does or states, he will not enable them to make him dislike them. He is asserting his own autonomy and power over his own emotions, and refusing to be controlled by somebody else. This quote speaks with the significance of self-control and the power of the private to choose how they respond to the world around them. It is a suggestion that all of us have the power to pick how we react to individuals and scenarios in our lives, which we ought to not permit anybody to make us feel something we do not want to feel.