If I have advocated the cause of the Negro, it is not because I am a Negro, but because I am a… — Frederick Douglass Copy Share Image
If we ever get free from all the oppressions and wrongs heaped upon us, we must pay for their removal. We must… — Frederick Douglass Copy Share Image
Abolish slavery tomorrow, and not a sentence or syllable of the Constitution need be altered. It was purposely so framed as to… — Frederick Douglass Copy Share Image
There is a class of people who seem to think that if a man should fall overboard into the sea with a… — Frederick Douglass Copy Share Image
If the Negro knows enough to pay taxes to support the government, he knows enough to vote; taxation and representation should go… — Frederick Douglass Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
If we would reach a degree of civilization higher and grander than any yet attained, we should welcome to our ample continent… — Frederick Douglass Copy Share Image
Liberty is meaningless where the right to utter one's thoughts and opinions has ceased to exist. That, of all rights, is the… — Frederick Douglass Copy Share Image
Let me give you a word of the philosophy of reform. The whole history of the progress of human liberty shows that… — Frederick Douglass Copy Share Image
If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who… — Frederick Douglass Copy Share Image
Everybody has asked the question, ... 'What shall we do with the Negro?' I have had but one answer from the beginning.… — Frederick Douglass Copy Share Image
My theory of self-made men is, then, simply this; that they are men of work. Whether or not such men have acquired… — Frederick Douglass Copy Share Image
“A treacherous President stood in the way; and it can be easily seen how reluctant good men might be to admit an apostasy which… — Frederick Douglass Copy Share
I have observed this in my experience of slavery, - that whenever my condition was improved, instead of its increasing my contentment, it only… — Frederick Douglass Copy Share
“But I should be false in the earliest sentiments of my soul, if I suppressed the opinion. I prefer to be true to myself,… — Frederick Douglass Copy Share
A man who will enslave his own blood, may not be safely relied on for magnamity. — Frederick Douglass Copy Share
“I assert most unhesitatingly, that the religion of the south is a mere covering for the most horrid crimes, - a justifier of the… — Frederick Douglass Copy Share
I assert most unhesitatingly, that the religion of the South is a mere covering for the most horrid crimes—a justifier of the most appalling… — Frederick Douglass Copy Share
The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppose. — Frederick Douglass Copy Share
Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. — Frederick Douglass Copy Share
“We have all met a class of men, very remarkable for their activity, and who yet make but little headway in life; men who,… — Frederick Douglass Copy Share
“The fatal poison of irresponsible power was already in her hands, and soon commenced its infernal work. That cheerful eye, under the influence of… — Frederick Douglass Copy Share
A battle lost or won is easily described, understood, and appreciated, but the moral growth of a great nation requires reflection, as well as… — Frederick Douglass Copy Share
I was broken in body, soul, and spirit. My natural elasticity was crushed, my intellect languished, the disposition to read departed, the cheerful spark… — Frederick Douglass Copy Share
I have observed this in my experience of slavery, that whenever my condition was improved, instead of increasing my contentment; it only increased my… — Frederick Douglass Copy Share
At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. — Frederick Douglass Copy Share
