Frederick Douglass

For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling in the nation must be quickened, the conscience of the nation must be roused, the propriety of the nation must be startled, the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed: and its crimes against God and man must be denounced.

I expose slavery in this country, because to expose it is to kill it. Slavery is one of those monsters of darkness to whom the light of truth is death.

Be not discouraged. There is a future for you. . . . The resistance encountered now predicates hope. . .

Some know the value of education by having it. I know it's value by not having it.

Freedom is a road seldom traveled by the multitude.

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

Without Struggle There Is No Success

The relation between the white and colored people of this country is the great, paramount, imperative, and all-commanding question for this age and nation to solve.

Immense wealth, and its lavish expenditure, fill the great house with all that can please the eye, or tempt the taste. Here, appetite, not food, is the great desideratum.