“It is not light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.”

What to the Slave is the 4th of July.

It’s a poor rule that won’t work both ways.

The life of a nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous.

It is better to be part of a great whole than to be the whole of a small part.

Slaves sing most when they are most unhappy. The songs of the slave represent the sorrows of his heart; and he is relieved by them, only as an aching heart is relieved by its tears.

To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker.

Man’s greatness consists in his ability to do and the proper application of his powers to things needed to be done.

The whole history of the progress of human liberty shows that all concessions yet made to her august claims have been born of earnest struggle.

You are not judged by the height you have risen, but from the depth you have climbed.

Intelligence is a great leveler here as elsewhere.

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

The more I read, the more I was led to abhor and detest my enslavers.

He who would be free must strike the first blow.

I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong.

Fortune may crowd a man’s life with fortunate circumstances and happy opportunities, but they will, as we all know, avail him nothing unless he makes a wise and vigorous use of them.

Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground.