"You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man."

"The destiny of the colored American, however, is not a question for the colored people themselves, but for the American people at large."

"I have had but one idea for the last three years, to present the Negro as a man, and to demand his rights as a man."

"The American people have always been anxious to know what they shall do with us... I have had but one answer from the beginning. Do nothing with us! Your doing with us has already played the mischief.…"

"I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence."