Frederick Douglass Quotes

In matters of truth and justice, there is no difference between large and small problems, for issues concerning the treatment of people are all the same.

[…] it is as necessary for me to be as vigorous in condemning the conditions which cause persons to feel that they must engage in riotous activities as it is for me to condemn riots. I think America must see that riots do not develop out of thin air. Certain conditions continue to exist in our society which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots. But in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it that America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the Negro poor has worsened over the last few years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice, equality, and humanity. And so in a real sense our nation's summers of riots are caused by our nation's winters of delay. And as long as America postpones justice, we stand in the position of having these recurrences of violence and riots over and over again. Social justice and progress are the absolute guarantors of riot prevention.

The march to freedom is irreversible.

We are redeemed one man at a time. There is no family pass ticket or park hopping pass to life. One ticket - one at a time. Man doesn't vanquish hatred or bigotry. The target keeps moving. From the blacks to the Irish; atheists to Christians. But as always there are a few leaders: Ben Franklin, John Quincy Adams, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Abraham Lincoln, Fredrick Douglas, Booker T Washington, Ghandi and Martin Luther King. They know that the march toward freedom never ends, man must be ever vigilant and pray less with his lips and more with his legs.

God, please help us remember that all the darkness in the world cannot snuff out the light of one little candle. Help us to keep lighting our little candles until a mighty torch of justice sweeps our nation and the world.

For humanity has moved forward to an era when wrong and slavery are being displaced, and reason and justice are being recognized as the rule of life.

We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes.

We must move forward in the days ahead with audacious faith. The moral arc of the universe is long but it bends toward justice.

I shall never accept that the law can be used to justify tragedy, to keep things as they are, to make us abandon our ideas of a different world. Law is the path of liberty, and must as such open the way to progress for everyone.

And this we should believe: that hope and volition can bring us closer to our ultimate goal: justice for all, injustice for no-one.

Then I despair... I remember that all through history, the way of truth and love has always won. There have been murderers and tyrants, and for a time they can seem invincible. But in the end they always fall. Think of it always.

If freedom makes social progress possible, so social progress strengthens and enlarges freedom.

Our freer, but yet far from freed, land is the asylum, if asylum there be, for the hope of man.

I hope that liberty and equality and opportunity lie within your heart because the hopes of millions of Americans depend on it.

Up you mighty race. You can accomplish what you will! Build your future on these foundations: Freedom, Justice and Equality.

In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free—honorable alike in what we give and what we preserve. We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best, hope on earth.

We are not fighting for integration, nor are we fighting for separation. We are fighting for recognition as human beings. We are fighting for human rights.

Liberty: I hope to see the time when all mankind will enjoy its blessings.

I wanted to help the world be more just.

We know, deep down, that repression is not the wave of the future. We know that the desire for freedom is not confined to, or owned by, any culture; it is the inborn hope of our humanity. We know that free governments are the only way to ensure that the strong are just and the weak are valued. And we know that when we lose sight of our ideals, it is not democracy that has failed. It is the failure of those charged with preserving and protecting democracy.

Compassion, hope, and opportunity are some of the most fundamentally American values that we should fight like hell to protect.

Martin Luther King dedicated his life to love and to justice between fellow human beings. He died in the cause of that effort.

Young men in my day really stepped up... These were champions for freedom, equality, and justice for all human beings, and they were educated individuals that used their education and knowledge to represent their case.

Collective action remains the best way of renewing the march towards the great trinity of liberty, equality, and solidarity.

Humanity has gained its suit; Liberty will nevermore be without an asylum.