Frederick Douglass Quotes
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The soul that is within me no man can degrade.
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In all the relations of life and death, we are met by the color line.
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Fugitive slaves were rare then, and as a fugitive slave lecturer, I had the advantage of being the first one out.
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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.
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Right is of no sex, Truth is of no color, God is the Father of us all, and we are all Brethren.
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His zeal in the cause of freedom was infinitely superior to mine. Mine was as the taper light, his was as the burning sun. Mine was bounded by time. His stretched away to the silent shores of eternity. I could speak for the slave. John Brown could fight for the slave. I could live for the slave. John Brown could die for the slave.
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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.
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There is not a man beneath the canopy of Heaven who does not know that slavery is wrong for him.
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I would unite with anybody to do right; and with nobody to do wrong.
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That which is inhuman cannot be divine.
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I knew that however bad the Republican party was, the Democratic party was much worse. The elements of which the Republican party was composed gave better ground for the ultimate hope of the success of the colored man's cause than those of the Democratic party.
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He treated me as a man... He did not let me feel for a moment that there was any difference in the color of our skins.
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For colored men the Republican party is the deck, all outside is the sea.
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Man's greatness consists in his ability to do and the proper application of his powers to things needed to be done.
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Slaves are generally expected to sing as well as to work.
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Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground.
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If the Republican party shall fail to carry out this purpose, God will raise up another party that will be faithful.
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To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker.
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I say nothing of father, for he is shrouded in a mystery I have never been able to penetrate. Slavery does away with fathers, as it does away with families. Slavery has no use for either fathers or families, and its laws do not recognize their existence in the social arrangements of the plantation.
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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 barbarity, - a sanctifier of the most hateful frauds, - and a dark shelter under which the darkest, foulest, grossest, and most infernal deeds of slaveholders find the strongest protection.
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I know there is a hope in religion; I know there is faith and I know there is prayer about religion and necessary to it, but God is most glorified when there is peace on earth and good will towards men
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Our faith in him was often taxed and strained to the uttermost, but it never failed…we were at times stunned, grieved, and greatly bewildered; but our hearts believed while they ached and bled.
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At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed.
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Everybody has asked the question, and they learned to ask it early of the abolitionists, 'What shall we do with the Negro?' I have had but one answer from the beginning. Do nothing with us! Your doing with us has already played the mischief with us.