Frederick Douglass: “Ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayers…”

On the record

Ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayers; therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.

Said by

Frederick Douglass

Source

Douglass references biblical condemnation of those who exploit the vulnerable under the guise of piety.

More from Frederick Douglass

Jan 1, 1881

They cannot be coaxed or driven to vote with their enemies against their friends.

Jan 1, 1881

None now denies the ability of the colored race to acquire knowledge of anything which can be communicated to the human understanding by letters.

Jan 1, 1881

No power beneath the sky can make an ignorant, wasteful, and idle people prosperous, or a licentious people happy.

Jan 1, 1881

Nothing but the shot-gun or the bull-dozer’s whip can keep them from voting their convictions.

Frederick Douglass: “Ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayers; therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.”