Frederick Douglass Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old Frederick Douglass quotes, Frederick Douglass sayings, and Frederick Douglass proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.'

You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man. Frederick Douglass
The white man's happiness cannot be purchased by the black man's misery. Frederick Douglass
I prayed for twenty years but received no answer until I prayed with my legs. Frederick Douglass
Oppression makes a wise man mad. Frederick Douglass
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. 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 an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe. Frederick Douglass
Our community belongs to us and whether it is mean or majestic, whether arrayed in glory or covered in shame, we cannot but share its character and destiny. Frederick Douglass
This right of speech is very dear to the hearts of intelligent lovers of liberty. It is the delights of the lovers of liberty, it is the dread and terror of tyrants. Frederick Douglass
It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men. Frederick Douglass
A man is worked upon by what he works on. He may carve out his circumstances, but his circumstances will carve him out as well. Frederick Douglass
It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men. Frederick Douglass
This fourth of July is yours not mine. You must rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a man in fetters into the great illuminated temple of liberty and call upon him to join you in glorious anthem, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony. Frederick Douglass
This, for the purpose of this celebration, is the Fourth of July. It is the birthday of your National Independence, and of your political freedom. This, to you, is what the Passover was to the emancipated people of God. Frederick Douglass
What to the American slave is the fourth of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is a constant victim. Frederick Douglass
What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? I answer: A day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him your celebration is a sham. Frederick Douglass
Our military heroes look better even in pictures, after winning an important battle, than after losing one. the pictures do not change, but we look at them through the favorable or unfavorable prevailing public opinion. Frederick Douglass
Next to bad manuscripts, pictures can be made the greatest bores. Frederick Douglass
Man is the only picture-making animal in the world. He alone of all inhabitants of the earth has the capacity and passion for pictures. Frederick Douglass
It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men. Frederick Douglass
If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Frederick Douglass
Peace between races is not to be secured by degrading one race and exalting another, by giving power to one race and withholding it from another, but by maintaining a state of equal justice between all classes. 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 an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe. Frederick Douglass
Murder is not the cure for murder—lying and stealing will not cure lying and stealing. The old doctrine was; "An eye for an eye—a tooth for a tooth'—but that was the doctrine of a by-gone age and generation, and not of this one of light, intelligence and reason. Frederick Douglass
A slave who would work during the holidays was considered by our masters as scarcely deserving them. Frederick Douglass
The deserving hired man gets his wages increased when he can tell his employer that he can get better wages elsewhere. Frederick Douglass
You are not judged by the height you have risen, but from the depth you have climbed. Frederick Douglass
I have observed this in my experience of slavery,—that whenever my condition was improved, instead of it increasing my contentment, it only increased my desire to be free, and set me to thinking of plans to gain my freedom. Frederick Douglass
I have found that to make a contented slave, it is necessary to make a thoughtless one. Frederick Douglass
The wretchedness of slavery and the blessedness of freedom were perpetually before me. It was life and death to me. Frederick Douglass
Beat and cuff your slave, keep him hungry and spiritless, and he will follow the chain of his master like a dog; but, feed and clothe him well,— work him moderately — surround him with physical comfort,— and dreams of freedom intrude. Frederick Douglass