The thing worse than rebellion is the thing that causes rebellion.

Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letter, U.S., let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pocket, there is no power on earth that can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship.

When men sow the wind it is rational to expect that they will reap the whirlwind.

Oppression makes a wise man mad.

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.

At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed.

The opposite of compromise is character.