Written by radical2013   

There is alot of information available on the History of the Ex-Slave called Fredrick Douglass, and how he changed the history of our nation by getting the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution passed for Equal Protection and Voting Rights for both Blacks and Women. Here are some of his best quotes, but he is worth doing research on him from A-Z.

BEST QUOTES BY FREDRICK DOUGLASS

A 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.

A gentleman will not insult me, and no man not a gentleman can insult me.

A little learning, indeed, may be a dangerous thing, but the want of learning is a calamity to any people.

A man's character always takes its hue, more or less, from the form and color of things about him.

America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future.

At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed.

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.

Fugitive slaves were rare then, and as a fugitive slave lecturer, I had the advantage of being the first one out.

I am a Republican, a black, dyed in the wool Republican, and I never intend to belong to any other party than the party of freedom and progress.

I could, as a free man, look across the bay toward the Eastern Shore where I was born a slave.

I didn't know I was a slave until I found out I couldn't do the things I wanted.

I prayed for twenty years but received no answer until I prayed with my legs.

I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence.

I recognize the Republican party as the sheet anchor of the colored man's political hopes and the ark of his safety.

If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning.”

It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.

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.

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

No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck.

One and God make a majority.

People might not get all they work for in this world, but they must certainly work for all they get.

Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.

Slaves are generally expected to sing as well as to work.

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

The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppose.

The soul that is within me no man can degrade.

The thing worse than rebellion is the thing that causes rebellion.

The white man's happiness cannot be purchased by the black man's misery.

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

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

We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the present and the future.

What to the Slave is the 4th of July.

When men sow the wind it is rational to expect that they will reap the whirlwind.

Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.

People might not get all they work for in this world, but they must certainly work for all they get.”

Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.”

Be not discouraged. There is a future for you. . . . The resistance encountered now predicates hope. . . . Only as we rise . . . do we encounter opposition.”

I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence.”

The soul that is within me no man can degrade.”

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.”

A little learning, indeed, may be a dangerous thing, but the want of learning is a calamity to any people.”