Frederick Douglass

America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future.

Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground.

Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is in an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob, and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.

Slaves are generally expected to sing as well as to work.

No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck.

Without a struggle, there can be no progress.

It is not light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.

Man's greatness consists in his ability to do and the proper application of his powers to things needed to be done.

The thing worse than rebellion is the thing that causes rebellion.

You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man.

People might not get all that they work for in this world, but they must certainly work for all that they get.

A gentleman will not insult me, and no man not a gentleman can insult me.

The soul that is within me no man can degrade.

Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.

Who would be free themselves must strike the blow. Better even to die free than to live slaves.

The white man's happiness cannot be purchased by the black man's misery.

Fugitive slaves were rare then, and as a fugitive slave lecturer, I had the advantage of being the first one out.

Its easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.

I could, as a free man, look across the bay toward the Eastern Shore where I was born a slave.

If there is no struggle there is no progress.

I prefer to be true to myself even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others rather than to be false and to incur my own abhorrence.

The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.

A little learning, indeed, may be a dangerous thing, but the want of learning is a calamity to any people.

It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.

Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.

In all the relations of life and death, we are met by the color line.

Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.

I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false and to incur my own abhorrence.

I recognize the Republican party as the sheet anchor of the colored man's political hopes and the ark of his safety.

The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppose.

I am a Republican, a black, dyed in the wool Republican, and I never intend to belong to any other party than the party of freedom and progress.

A man's character always takes its hue, more or less, from the form and color of things about him.

A man is worked upon by what he works on. He may carve out his circumstances, but his circumstances will carve him out as well.

I didn't know I was a slave until I found out I couldn't do the things I wanted.

Our community belongs to us and whether it is mean or majestic, whether arrayed in glory or covered in shame, we cannot but share its character and destiny.

A gentleman will not insult me and no man not a gentleman can insult me.

What to the Slave is the 4th of July.

Knowledge makes a man unfit to be a slave.

One and God make a majority.

To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker.

When men sow the wind it is rational to expect that they will reap the whirlwind.

I prayed for twenty years but received no answer until I prayed with my legs.

People might not get all they work for in this world, but they must certainly work for all they get.

If there is no Struggle, there is no progress.

You have seen how a man was made a slave you shall see how a slave was made a man.

A battle lost or won is easily described, understood, and appreciated, but the moral growth of a great nation requires reflection, as well as observation, to appreciate it.

It is easier to build strong children than to repair broekn men.

The life of the nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous.

If there is no struggle, there is no progress.

I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence.

Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them.

We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the present and the future.

Oppression makes a wise man mad.

At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed.

Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground.