A quotation from Frederick Douglass
Let me give you a word of the philosophy of reform. The whole history of the progress of human liberty shows that all concessions yet made to her august claims, have been born of earnest struggle. The conflict has been exciting, agitating, all-absorbing, and for the time being, putting all other tumults to silence. It must do this or it does nothing. If there is no struggle, there is no progress.
Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle.
Frederick Douglass (1817-1895) American abolitionist, orator, writer
Speech (1857-08-04) on West India Emancipation, Ontario County Agricultural Society Fairgrounds, Canandaigua, New York
More about this quote: wist.info/douglass-frederick/2…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #FrederickDouglass #agitation #conflict #demands #effort #freedom #liberty #power #progress #reform #revolution #struggle #trouble