Frederick Douglass

That which is inhuman cannot be divine.

— Frederick Douglass

Knowledge unfits a child to be a slave.

— Frederick Douglass

Opportunity is important but exertion is indispensable.

— Frederick Douglass

Without a struggle, there can be no progress.

— Frederick Douglass

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

— Frederick Douglass

One and God make a majority.

— Frederick Douglass

My hopes were never brighter than now.

— Frederick Douglass

Let us render the tyrant no aid.

— Frederick Douglass

What I ask for the Negro is not benevolence, not pity, not sympathy, but simply justice.

— Frederick Douglass

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

— Frederick Douglass

Men and women, old and young, married and single, were ranked with horses, sheep, and swine

— Frederick Douglass

I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong.

— Frederick Douglass

This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn.

— Frederick Douglass

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

— Frederick Douglass

Every tone was a testimony against slavery, and a prayer to God for deliverance from chains.

— Frederick Douglass

A slave is someone who sits down, and waits for someone to free them.

— Frederick Douglass

“Mr. Johnson had just been reading the "Lady of the Lake," and at once suggested that my name be "Douglass." From that…

— Frederick Douglass

There is no negro problem. The problem is whether the American people have loyalty enough, honor enough, patriotism enough, to live up…

— Frederick Douglass

“They’ll read and sing a sacred song, And make a prayer both loud and long, And teach the right and do the…

— Frederick Douglass

Slaves sing most when they are most unhappy. The songs of the slave represent the sorrows of his heart; and he is…

— Frederick Douglass

We are Americans, speaking the same language, adopting the same customs, holding the same general opinions... and shall rise and fall with…

— Frederick Douglass

My great and exceeding joy over these stupendous achievements, especially over the abolition of slavery (which had been the deepest desire and…

— Frederick Douglass

These were choice documents to me... They gave tongue to interesting thoughts of my own soul, which had frequently flashed through my…

— Frederick Douglass

I know no class of my fellowmen, however just, enlightened, and humane, which can be wisely and safely trusted absolutely with the…

— Frederick Douglass

[A] woman should have every honorable motive to exertion which is enjoyed by man, to the full extent of her capacities and…

— Frederick Douglass

If there is no struggle, there is no progress…This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one;…

— Frederick Douglass

“I have often been asked how I felt when first I found myself on free soil. There is scarcely anything in my…

— Frederick Douglass

I was broken in body, soul, and spirit. My natural elasticity was crushed, my intellect languished, the disposition to read departed, the…

— Frederick Douglass

From my earliest recollection, I date the entertainment of a deep conviction that slavery would not always be able to hold me…

— Frederick Douglass

John Brown's zeal in the cause of freedom was infinitely superior to mine. Mine was as the taper light; his was as…

— Frederick Douglass

One by one I have seen obstacles removed, errors corrected, prejudices softened, proscriptions relinquished, and my people advancing in all the elements…

— Frederick Douglass

For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm,…

— Frederick Douglass

“Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day? What have I, or those I…

— Frederick Douglass

“I may be deemed superstitious, and even egotistical, in regarding this event as a special interposition of divine Providence in my favor.…

— Frederick Douglass

The 4th of July is the first great fact in your nation's history — the very ring-bolt in the chain of your…

— Frederick Douglass

“In about four months after I went to New Bedford, there came a young man to me, and inquired if I did…

— Frederick Douglass

“just at that time, the slightest manifestation of humanity toward a colored person was denounced as abolitionism, and that name subjected its…

— Frederick Douglass

“We have all met a class of men, very remarkable for their activity, and who yet make but little headway in life;…

— Frederick Douglass

“While there remains such an idea as the right of each State to control its own local affairs,—an idea, by the way,…

— Frederick Douglass

This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may be both moral and physical,…

— Frederick Douglass