On the record
When the poison of anarchy is once in the air, like the pestilence that walketh in darkness, the winds of heaven will take it up and favour its diffusion.
Said by
Frederick Douglass
Source
gutenberg.orgFrederick Douglass: “When the poison of anarchy is once in the air, like the pestilence that walketh in darkness, the winds of heaven will…”
Editor's note · Context
He uses a metaphor to describe how the spread of anarchy can infect society like a disease, leading to widespread chaos.
Share
More from Frederick Douglass
Jan 1, 1881
The nation or people which shall comply with them will rise, and those which violate them will fall, and perhaps will disappear altogether.
Jan 1, 1881
To-day the negro, starting from nothing, pays taxes upon six millions in Georgia, and forty millions in Louisiana.
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.