Frederick Douglass

All the feelings, all the susceptibilities, all the capacities, which you have, he has.

My next answer is, that the slave is a man, and, as such, is entitled to your sympathy as a brother.

My answer is, first, that slavery is the common enemy of mankind, and all mankind should be made acquainted with its abominable character.

It is because I love this religion that I hate the slaveholding, the woman-whipping, the mind-darkening, the soul-destroying religion that exists in the southern states of America.

If you claim to act for yourself, it says, allow your neighbors the same right.

If you claim a right to think for yourself, it says, allow your neighbors the same right.

If you demand liberty to yourself, it says, grant it to your neighbors.

I love that religion that is based upon the glorious principle, of love to God and love to man; which makes its followers do unto others as they themselves would be done by.

I love that religion that makes it the duty of its disciples to visit the father less and the widow in their affliction.

I love that religion that sends its votaries to bind up the wounds of him that has fallen among thieves.

I love that religion that comes from above, in the “wisdom of God,” which is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.

This I conceive to be the darkest feature of slavery, and the most difficult to attack, because it is identified with religion, and exposes those who denounce it to the charge of infidelity.