But I should be false in the earliest sentiments of my soul, if I suppressed the opinion. 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.
People might not get all they work for in this world, but they must certainly work for all they get.
There is a class of people who seem to think that if a man should fall overboard into the sea with a Bible in his pocket it would hardly be possible to drown. I prayed for twenty years but received no answer until I prayed with my legs.
The soul that is within me no man can degrade.
Mr. Lincoln was not only a great President, but a great man – too great to be small in anything. In his company I was never in any way reminded of my humble origin, or of my unpopular color.
It is not light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.
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.
At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed.
A slave is someone who sits down, and waits for someone to free them.
You are not judged by the height you have risen, but from the depth you have climbed.
Education means emancipation. It means light and liberty. It means the uplifting of the soul of man into the glorious light of truth, the light by which men can only be made free.
The District of Columbia is the one spot where there is no government for the people, of the people and by the people.
The simplest truths often meet the sternest resistance and are slowest in getting general acceptance.
There is no negro problem. The problem is whether the American people have loyalty enough, honor enough, patriotism enough, to live up to their own constitution.
Praying for freedom never did me any good til I started praying with my feet.
I know of no rights of race superior to the rights of humanity.
I hear the mournful wail of millions!
The thing worse than rebellion is the thing that causes rebellion.
He who would be free must strike the first blow.
A great man, tender of heart, strong of nerve, boundless patience and broadest sympathy, with no motive apart from his country.