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Frederick Douglass quotes

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“For of all slaveholders with whom I have ever met, religious slaveholders are the worst. I have ever found them the meanest and basest, the most cruel and cowardly, of all others.” Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
“Slaves sing most when they are most unhappy. The songs of the slave represent the sorrows of his heart; and he is relieved by them, only as an aching heart is relieved by its tears.” Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
“I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and incur my own abhorrence.” Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
“I have found that, to make a contented slave, it is necessary to make a thoughtless one. It is necessary to darken his moral and mental vision, and, as far as possible, to annihilate the power of reason.” Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
“I was broken in body, soul, and spirit. My natural elasticity was crushed, my intellect languished, the disposition to read departed, the cheerful spark that lingered about my eye died; the dark night of slavery closed in upon me; and behold a...” Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
“The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced.” Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom
“I had as well be killed running as die standing.” Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
“I assert most unhesitatingly, that the religion of the south is a mere covering for the most horrid crimes,—a justifier of the most appalling barbarity,—a sanctifier of the most hateful frauds,—and a dark shelter under, which the darkest,...” Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
“You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man.” Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
“They came because they wished to learn. Their minds had been starved by their cruel masters. They had been shut up in mental darkness.” Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
“My long-crushed spirit rose, cowardice departed, bold defiance took its place; and I now resolved that, however long I might remain a slave in form, the day had passed forever when I could be a slave in fact.” Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
“Let us render the tyrant no aid; let us not hold the light by which he can trace the footprints of our flying brother.” Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
“A man must be disposed to judge of emancipation by other tests than whether it has increased the produce of sugar,—and to hate slavery for other reasons than because it starves men and whips women,—before he is ready to lay the first stone of...” Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
“I have observed this in my experience of slavery,—that whenever my condition was improved, instead of its increasing my contentment, it only increased my desire to be free, and set me to thinking of plans to gain my freedom.” Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
“I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ: I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land.” Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
“I have often wished myself a beast, or a bird—anything, rather than a slave.” Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom
“The singing of a man cast away upon a desolate island might be as appropriately considered as evidence of contentment and happiness, as the singing of a slave; the songs of the one and of the other are prompted by the same emotion.” Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
“I will give Mr. Freeland the credit of being the best master I ever had, till I became my own master.” Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
“Every tone was a testimony against slavery, and a prayer to God for deliverance from chains.” Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
“The last and most successful one was that of tarring his fence all around; after which, if a slave was caught with any tar upon his person, it was deemed sufficient proof that he had either been into the garden, or had tried to get in.” Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
“Having no resources within himself, he was compelled to be the copyist of many, and being such, he was forever the victim of inconsistency; and of consequence he was an object of contempt, and was held as such even by his slaves.” Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
“They suppress the truth rather than take the consequences of telling it, and in so doing prove themselves a part of the human family.” Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
“We were closely pinched to bring our wants within our means; but the jail stood over the way, and I had a wholesome dread of the consequences of running in debt.” Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom
“Learning would spoil the best nigger in the world. Now . . . if you teach that nigger (speaking of myself) how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave.” Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave

Related topics

slavery emancipation freedom religion integrity oppression hypocrisy truth corruption conscience singing slaveholders cruelty happiness falsehood sorrow God morality learning education

Related sources

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (21)
My Bondage and My Freedom (3)