29 quotes
Wherever there is a human being, I see God-given rights inherent in that being, whatever may be the sex or complexion.
William Lloyd Garrison 1805–1879 (1885)
Our country is the world, our countrymen are all mankind.
We have a natural right, therefore, to seek the abolition of slavery throughout the globe.
I will say, finally, that I despair of the republic while slavery exists therein.
I have not come here with reference to any flag but that of freedom.
I will be as harsh as truth and as uncompromising as justice.
Since the creation of the world there has been no tyrant like Intemperance, and no slaves so cruelly treated as his.
William Lloyd Garrison 1805–1879 (1885)
The success of any great moral enterprise does not depend upon numbers.
William Lloyd Garrison 1805–1879 (1885)
The Sabbath, as now recognized and enforced, is one of the main pillars of Priestcraft and Superstition, and the stronghold of a merely ceremonial Religion.
William Lloyd Garrison 1805–1879 (1885)
It is an abuse of language to talk of the slavery of wages... We cannot see that it is wrong to give or receive wages.
Fateful Lightning: A New History of the Civil War and Reconstruction (2012)
I accuse her of legalizing, on an enormous scale, licentiousness, fraud, cruelty and murder.
The compact which exists between the North and the South is a covenant with death and an agreement with hell.
I am in earnest — I will not equivocate — I will not excuse — I will not retreat a single inch — AND I WILL BE HEARD.
The Liberator (1831)
We may be personally defeated, but our principles never.
William Lloyd Garrison 1805–1879 (1885)
It is piracy to buy or steal a native African, and subject him to servitude. Surely, the sin is as great to enslave an American as an African.
Is Error, though unwittingly supported by a host of good men, stronger than Truth? Are Right and Wrong convertible terms, dependant upon popular opinion?
Thoughts on African Colonization (1832)
You cannot possibly have a broader basis for any government than that which includes all the people, with all their rights in their hands, and with an equal power to maintain their rights.
William Lloyd Garrison 1805–1879 (1885)
Resolved, That the compact which exists between the North and the South is a covenant with death and an agreement with hell; involving both parties in atrocious criminality, and should be immediately annulled.
With reasonable men, I will reason; with humane men I will plead; but to tyrants I will give no quarter, nor waste arguments where they will certainly be lost.
William Lloyd Garrison 1805–1879 (1885)
I am aware that many object to the severity of my language; but is there not cause for severity? I will be as harsh as truth, and as uncompromising as justice. On this subject, I do not wish to think, or to speak, or write, with moderation.
The Liberator (1831)