Every one of us should be ashamed to be free while his brother is a slave. Frederick Douglass More Quotes by Frederick Douglass More Quotes From Frederick Douglass The Federal Government was never, in its essence, anything but an anti-slavery government. Frederick Douglass slaverygovernmentessence ... and in thinking of my life, I almost forgot my liberty. Frederick Douglass libertythinking Beat and cuff your slave, keep him hungry and spiritless, and he will follow the chain of his master like a dog. Feed and clothe him well, work him moderately, surround him with physical comfort and dreams of freedom intrude. Frederick Douglass dogcomfortdream If there's no struggle, there's no progress. Frederick Douglass progressstrugglemath Instead of the bright, blue sky of America, I am covered with the soft, grey fog of the Emerald Isle. I breathe, and lo! the chattel becomes a man. Frederick Douglass fogbluemen Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letter, U.S., let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pocket, there is no power on earth that can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship. Frederick Douglass eaglesblackmen I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth July is yours, not mine. Frederick Douglass distancehealingfather Everybody has asked the question . . . 'What shall we do with the Negro?' I have had but one answer from the beginning. Do nothing with us! Your doing with us has already played the mischief with us. Do nothing with us! Frederick Douglass mischiefanswers What I ask for the Negro is not benevolence, not pity, not sympathy, but simply justice. Frederick Douglass benevolencepityjustice It was unlawful, as well as unsafe, to teach a slave to read. Frederick Douglass unlawfulteachslave The sunlight that has brought life and healing to you has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. Frederick Douglass julyhealingjustice 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 of 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 proclaimed and denounced. Frederick Douglass If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Frederick Douglass Find out just what people will submit to, and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them; and these will continue until they are resisted with either words or blows, or both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress. Frederick Douglass Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is in an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob, and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe. Frederick Douglass There is not a man beneath the canopy of Heaven who does not know that slavery is wrong for him. Frederick Douglass knowmanslaveryheaven Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them. Frederick Douglass willyouinjusticepeople That which is inhuman cannot be divine. Frederick Douglass whichcannotinhumandivine
