118 quotes
Liberty I will have, or die in the attempt to gain it.
The Heroic Slave (1853)
Not only was Sunday a Sabbath, but all days were Sabbaths, and to be kept holy.
Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (1881)
Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.
We can be remodified, changed, assimilated, but never extinguished.
Jefferson was not ashamed to call the black man his brother and to address him as a gentleman.
Self-Made Men (1872)
Every tone was a testimony against slavery, and a prayer to God for deliverance from chains.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave (1845)
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.
My Bondage and My Freedom (1855)
He was never loud and noisy, but calm and serene as a summer sky, and as pure.
Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (1881)
At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed.
What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? (1852)
Though conscious of the difficulty of learning without a teacher, I set out with high hope, and a fixed purpose, at whatever cost of trouble, to learn how to read.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave (1845)
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.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave (1845)
There is no race problem before the country, but only a political one, the question whether a Republican has any right to exist south of Mason and Dixon's line.
Speech at Tremont Temple (1890)
You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave (1845)
Let us render the tyrant no aid; let us not hold the light by which he can trace the footprints of our flying brother.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave (1845)
A man's rights rest in three boxes. The ballot box, jury box and the cartridge box. Let no man be kept from the ballot box because of his color. Let no woman be kept from the ballot box because of her sex.
You cannot write the bloody laws of slavery on those restless billows. The ocean, if not the land, is free.
The Heroic Slave (1853)
The man who is right is a majority. We, who have God and conscience on our side, have a majority against the universe.
Frederick Douglass: The Colored Orator (1969)
This very attempt to blot out forever the hopes of an enslaved people may be one necessary link in the chain of events preparatory to the downfall and complete overthrow of the whole slave system.
Speech on the Dred Scott Decision (1857)
Shoot down the Confederacy and uphold the flag; the American flag.
What the Black Man Wants (1865)
In time of trouble we are citizens. Shall we be citizens in war, and aliens in peace? Would that be just?