Frederick Douglass

The colored people of this country are not only entitled to the ballot, but they are entitled to all the rights, privileges, and immunities of American citizens.

The white man's peace is the black man's war.

The cause of freedom is not the cause of a race or a sect, a party or a class, but the cause of human-kind, the very birthright of humanity.

The American people are a great people, and they will yet do justice to the colored people.

The true test of civilization is not the census, nor the size of cities, nor the crops—but the kind of man the country turns out.

The government of the United States is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

The future is with the people, and the people are with the truth.

The world is moving, and the man who stands still is left behind.

The highest good of society is the welfare of the individual.

The colored people of this country are not asking for special privileges, but for equal rights.

The cause of liberty is the cause of God.

The only way to make a man a slave is to make him a brute.

The American people are a just people, and they will yet do justice to the colored people.

I have no idea of a God who is pleased with the tears of his creatures.

A man's rights are not to be determined by the color of his skin, or by the region of his birth.

I have been branded a 'disturber of the peace.' But the peace of which I am a disturber is the peace of the slave-holder.

The American people have always been anxious to know what they shall do with us. I have had but one answer from the beginning. Do nothing with us! Your doing with us has already played the mischief. Do nothing with us!

Men may not get all they pay for in this world, but they must certainly pay for all they get.

It is not the light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.

The man who has suffered the most is the man who has learned the most.