Quotes by 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."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"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."

"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."

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

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

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

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

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

"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."

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

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

"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."

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