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I didn't know I was a slave until I found out I couldn't do the things I wanted.
Frederick Douglass
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Frederick Douglass
Age: 77 †
Born: 1818
Born: February 14
Died: 1895
Died: February 20
Abolitionist
Autobiographer
Businessperson
Caulker
Diplomat
Editor
Film Editor
Journalist
Orator
Politician
Suffragist
Writer
Talbot County
Maryland
Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey
Frederick Augustus Washington Baly
Fred Bailey
Freddie Bailey
Slave
Couldn
Found
Didn
Wanted
Things
Slavery
More quotes by Frederick Douglass
When men sow the wind it is rational to expect that they will reap the whirlwind.
Frederick Douglass
From the first I saw no chance of bettering the condition of the freedman until he should cease to be merely a freedman and should become a citizen.
Frederick Douglass
The law on the side of freedom is of great advantage only when there is power to make that law respected.
Frederick Douglass
Who would be free themselves must strike the blow. Better even to die free than to live slaves.
Frederick Douglass
If I have advocated the cause of the Negro, it is not because I am a Negro, but because I am a man.
Frederick Douglass
A man, at times, gets something for nothing, but it will, in his hands, amount to nothing.
Frederick Douglass
Some know the value of education by having it. I know it's value by not having it.
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.
Frederick Douglass
The ballot is the only safety.
Frederick Douglass
Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.
Frederick Douglass
What I ask for the Negro is not benevolence, not pity, not sympathy, but simply justice. ... All I ask is, give him a chance to stand on his own legs! Let him alone! ... Your interference is doing him positive injury.
Frederick Douglass
He who is whipped oftenest, is whipped easiest.
Frederick Douglass
Educate your sons and daughters, send them to school, and show them that beside the cartridge box, the ballot box, and the jury box, you also have the knowledge box.
Frederick Douglass
[John Brown's] zeal in the cause of freedom was infinitely superior to mine. Mine was as the taper light, his was as the burning sun... I could speak for the slave. John Brown could fight for the slave.
Frederick Douglass
What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? I answer: A day that reveals to him, more than all other days of the year, the gross injustices and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him your celebration is a sham.
Frederick Douglass
Fortune may crowd a man's life with fortunate circumstances and happy opportunities, but they will, as we all know, avail him nothing unless he makes a wise and vigorous use of them.
Frederick Douglass
The destiny of the colored American ... is the destiny of America.
Frederick Douglass
To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker.
Frederick Douglass
Men are whipped oftenest who are whipped easiest.
Frederick Douglass
Praying for freedom never did me any good til I started praying with my feet.
Frederick Douglass
