14 quotes
I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and incur my own abhorrence.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave (1845)
I look upon my departure from Colonel Lloyd's plantation as one of the most interesting events of my life.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave (1845)
Going to live at Baltimore laid the foundation, and opened the gateway, to all my subsequent prosperity.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave (1845)
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)
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)
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)
I have often been utterly astonished, since I came to the north, to find persons who could speak of the singing, among slaves, as evidence of their contentment and happiness.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave (1845)
I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ; I therefore hate the corrupt, slave-holding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave (1845)
The silver trump of freedom had roused my soul to eternal wakefulness. Freedom now appeared, to disappear no more forever. It was heard in every sound, and seen in every thing.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave (1845)
I was broken in body, soul and spirit. My natural elasticity was crushed, my intellect languished, the disposition to read departed, the cheerful spark that lingered about my eye died; the dark night of slavery closed in upon me; and behold a man transformed into a brute!
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave (1845)
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.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave (1845)
My long-crushed spirit rose, cowardice departed, bold defiance took its place; and I now resolved that, however long I might remain a slave in form, the day had passed forever when I could be a slave in fact. I did not hesitate to let it be known of me, that the white man who expected to succeed in whipping, must also succeed in killing me.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave (1845)