Frederick Douglass

“A treacherous President stood in the way; and it can be easily seen how reluctant good men might be to admit an…

— Frederick Douglass

I have observed this in my experience of slavery, - that whenever my condition was improved, instead of its increasing my contentment,…

— Frederick Douglass

“But I should be false in the earliest sentiments of my soul, if I suppressed the opinion. I prefer to be true…

— Frederick Douglass

A man who will enslave his own blood, may not be safely relied on for magnamity.

— Frederick Douglass

“I assert most unhesitatingly, that the religion of the south is a mere covering for the most horrid crimes, - a justifier…

— Frederick Douglass

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

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

— Frederick Douglass

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

— 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

“The fatal poison of irresponsible power was already in her hands, and soon commenced its infernal work. That cheerful eye, under the…

— Frederick Douglass

A battle lost or won is easily described, understood, and appreciated, but the moral growth of a great nation requires reflection, as…

— Frederick Douglass

Knowledge makes a man unfit to be a slave.

— 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

I have observed this in my experience of slavery, that whenever my condition was improved, instead of increasing my contentment; it only…

— Frederick Douglass

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

— Frederick Douglass

They who study mankind with a whip in their hands will always go wrong.

— Frederick Douglass

If we ever get free from all the oppressions and wrongs heaped upon us, we must pay for their removal. We must…

— Frederick Douglass

I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ; I therefore hatethe corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial, and hypocritical Christianity of…

— Frederick Douglass

“We deem it a settled point that the destiny of the colored man is bound up with that of the white people…

— Frederick Douglass

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

— Frederick Douglass

Fortune may crowd a man's life with fortunate circumstances and happy opportunities, but they will, as we all know, avail him nothing…

— Frederick Douglass

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

— Frederick Douglass

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

— Frederick Douglass

You degrade us and then ask why we are degraded. You shut our mouths and ask why we don't speak. You close…

— Frederick Douglass

“This will be seen by the fact, that the slaveholders like to have their slaves spend those days just in such a…

— Frederick Douglass