Frederick Douglass: “The body of the nation was everything; the soul of the nation was…”

On the record

The body of the nation was everything; the soul of the nation was nothing.

Said by

Frederick Douglass

Source

This quote contrasts the material and spiritual needs of a nation, emphasizing the importance of both.

More from Frederick Douglass

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.

Jan 1, 1881

Another ground of hope for our race is in the progress of education.

Jan 1, 1881

Everywhere in the south the colored man is learning to read.

Frederick Douglass: “The body of the nation was everything; the soul of the nation was nothing.”