KemetLeads

Their words

“I counted everything. I counted the steps to the road, the steps up to church, the number of dishes and silverware I washed … anything that could be counted, I did.”

Source: NASA feature “The Girl Who Loved to Count”, 24 November 2015

Context In a NASA profile published the day President Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, she recalled her childhood love of counting in West Virginia.

Portrait of Katherine Johnson
Katherine JohnsonUnited States · 1918–2020
Read their story →

Pick the card background

Share on X WhatsApp All quotes

More words from Katherine Johnson

“Like what you do, and then you will do your best.”
Katherine Johnson United States
“If you do your best, nobody can ask you to do it over again.”
Katherine Johnson United States
“Follow your passion. Whatever you're doing, do your best at all times and make it as correct as possible.”
Katherine Johnson United States
“Girls are capable of doing everything men are capable of doing. Sometimes they have more imagination than men.”
Katherine Johnson United States
“You learn if you want to. So you've got to want to learn.”
Katherine Johnson United States
“I went to work every day for 33 years happy. Never did I get up and say I don't want to go to work.”
Katherine Johnson United States

More words from Science & Environment

“In the course of history, there comes a time when humanity is called to shift to a new level of consciousness, to reach a higher moral ground. A time when we have to shed our fear and give hope to each other. That time is now.”
Wangari Maathai Kenya
“It is not just perpetrators of violence who are responsible for their crimes, it is also those who choose to look the other way.”
Denis Mukwege DR Congo
“I sincerely hope that this first one will inspire the young generations of developing countries with the knowledge that it is possible to contribute to world science and technology.”
Ahmed Zewail Egypt