Frederick Douglass Quotes

Neither we, nor any other people, will ever be respected till we respect ourselves and we will never respect ourselves till we have the means to live respectfully.

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

To make a contented slave it is necessary to make a thoughtless one. It is necessary to darken the moral and mental vision and, as far as possible, to annihilate the power of reason.

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

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

You have to take power. No one gives it.

Let us render the tyrant no aid; let us not hold the light by which he can trace the footprints of our flying brother.

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

Interpreted as it ought to be interpreted, the constitution is a Glorious Liberty Document!

Slaves sing most when they are most unhappy. The songs of the slave represent the sorrows of his heart; and he is relieved by them, only as an aching heart is relieved by its tears.

The Constitution is a GLORIOUS LIBERTY DOCUMENT. Read its preamble, consider it purposes. Is slavery among them? Is it at the gateway? or is it in the temple? it is neither.

The silver trump of freedom roused in my soul eternal wakefulness.

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 better to be part of a great whole than to be the whole of a small part.

Opportunity is important but exertion is indispensable.

Some know the value of education by having it. I know it's value by not having it.

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

A great man, tender of heart, strong of nerve, boundless patience and broadest sympathy, with no motive apart from his country.

In a composite nation like ours, as before the law, there should be no rich, no poor, no high, no low, no white, no black, but common country, common citizenship, equal rights and a common destiny.

The relation between the white and colored people of this country is the great, paramount, imperative, and all-commanding question for this age and nation to solve.

Every one of us should be ashamed to be free while his brother is a slave.

I do not think much of the good luck theory of self-made men. It is worth but little attention and has no practical value.

I hear the mournful wail of millions!

Instead of the bright, blue sky of America, I am covered with the soft, grey fog of the Emerald Isle. I breathe, and lo! the chattel becomes a man.

We may explain success mainly by one word and that word is WORK! WORK!! WORK!!! WORK!!!!

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

Let us render the tyrant no aid.

A man, at times, gets something for nothing, but it will, in his hands, amount to nothing.

The destiny of the colored American ... is the destiny of America.

It's a poor rule that won't work both ways.

I expose slavery in this country, because to expose it is to kill it. Slavery is one of those monsters of darkness to whom the light of truth is death.

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

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

Our destiny is largely in our hands.

Yet people in general will say they like colored men as well as any other, but in their proper place.

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

I ask you...to adopt the principles proclaimed by yourselves, by your revolutionary fathers, and by the old bell in Independence Hall.

One and God make a majority.

The mind does not take its complexion from the skin.

Intelligence is a great leveler here as elsewhere

We succeed, not alone by the laborious exertions of our faculties, be they small or great, but by the regular, thoughtful and systematic exercise of them.

The man who is right is a majority. He who has God and conscience on his side, has a majority against the universe.

The more men you make free, the more freedom is strengthened, and the more men you give an interest in the welfare and safety of the State, the greater is the security of the State.

Poverty, ignorance and degradation are the combined evils, these constitute the social disease of the free colored people of the US.

The law on the side of freedom is of great advantage only when there is power to make that law respected.

Once you read, you will be free forever.

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.

My hopes were never brighter than now.

We are free to say that in respect to political rights, we hold women to be justly entitled to all we claim for men.

As those who believe in the visibility of ghosts can easily see them, so it is always easy to see repulsive qualities in those we despise and hate.