Frederick Douglass

"It is not the color of the skin that makes a man a slave or a free man, it is the condition of his mind."

"Once you learn to read, you will be forever free."

"If there is no struggle, there is no progress."

"I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us."

"Knowledge is the pathway from slavery to freedom."

"The mind of man is capable of anything."

"Slavery can only be perpetuated by darkening the minds of men."

"Everybody has asked me, 'What is it like to be a slave?' I can tell anyone who wishes to know."

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

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

"Seek not to know why you should believe, but to believe, and you will soon find out why."

"Do nothing with a doubtful mind."

"The colored people of this country have been cheated out of their civil rights."

"I have found that Americans are really shocked by truth."

"He who has suffered much becomes patient."

"Depend upon yourself. Make your judgement trustworthy by trusting it."

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

"What is possible for me is possible for you."

"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 against them, neither persons nor property will be safe."

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

"Power concedes nothing without a demand."

"You cannot be free if you pine for the good opinion of those who oppress you."

"I recognize the Negro, not as a slave, but as a man."

"Without a struggle, there can be no progress."

"The mind that becomes my mind must become my slave."

"A man's rights rest in three boxes. The ballot-box, the jury-box and the cartridge-box."

"I am naturally anxious to be useful in my day and generation."

"Learn trades or starve."

"Ignorance of the Bible is the source of a thousand errors."

"I am a radical. I am ready to take measures."