What I ask for the Negro is not benevolence, not pity, not sympathy, but simply justice.
FREDERICK DOUGLASSWhat I ask for the Negro is not benevolence, not pity, not sympathy, but simply justice.
FREDERICK DOUGLASSA slave is someone who sits down, and waits for someone to free them.
FREDERICK DOUGLASSEducation means emancipation. It means light and liberty. It means the uplifting of the soul of man into the glorious light of truth, the light by which men can only be made free.
FREDERICK DOUGLASSThe ballot is the only safety.
FREDERICK DOUGLASSI didn’t know I was a slave until I found out I couldn’t do the things I wanted.
FREDERICK DOUGLASSThe simplest truths often meet the sternest resistance and are slowest in getting general acceptance.
FREDERICK DOUGLASSThe opposite of compromise is character.
FREDERICK DOUGLASSA smile or a tear has no nationality; joy and sorrow speak alike to all nations, and they, above all the confusion of tongues, proclaim the brotherhood of man.
FREDERICK DOUGLASSMan’s greatness consists in his ability to do and the proper application of his powers to things needed to be done.
FREDERICK DOUGLASSOpportunity is important but exertion is indispensable.
FREDERICK DOUGLASSA battle lost or won is easily described, understood, and appreciated, but the moral growth of a great nation requires reflection, as well as observation, to appreciate it.
FREDERICK DOUGLASSKnowledge makes a man unfit to be a slave.
FREDERICK DOUGLASSOne and God make a majority.
FREDERICK DOUGLASSHe who would be free must strike the first blow.
FREDERICK DOUGLASSFreedom now appeared, to disappear no more forever.
FREDERICK DOUGLASSIntelligence is a great leveler here as elsewhere.
FREDERICK DOUGLASS