

“When a great truth once gets abroad in the world, no power on earth can imprison it, or prescribe its limits, or suppress it. It is bound to go on till it becomes the thought of the world.”
Speech to the International Council of Women · 1888
Traced to Speech to the International Council of Women (1888).
More from Frederick Douglass
“The life of the nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous.”
Frederick Douglass
Speech on the anniversary of Emancipation in the District of Columbia · 1885
verified“Let the nation try justice and the problem will be solved.”
Frederick Douglass
Lessons of the Hour · 1894
verified“What I ask for the negro is not benevolence, not pity, not sympathy, but simply justice.”
Frederick Douglass
What the Black Man Wants · 1865
verified“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.”
Frederick Douglass
Speech at the Civil Rights Mass Meeting · 1883
verified“I would unite with anybody to do right; and with nobody to do wrong.”
Frederick Douglass
The Anti-Slavery Movement (lecture) · 1855
verified“If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters.”
Frederick Douglass
West India Emancipation speech · 1857
verifiedMore Wisdom quotes
“Happiness is the final and perfect fruit of obedience to the laws of life.”
Helen Keller
The Simplest Way to be Happy · 1933
verified“The highest result of education is tolerance.”
Helen Keller
Optimism · 1903
verified“Example is the best lesson there is.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
Tomorrow Is Now · 1963
verified“Only a man's character is the real criterion of worth.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
My Day · 1944
verified“It isn't enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn't enough to believe in it. One must work at it.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
Voice of America broadcast · 1951
verified“In the long run, we shape our lives and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
You Learn by Living · 1960
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