Sojourner Truth was an African-American abolitionist who born a slave and became a popular spokesperson for abolition, women’s rights, and temperance. She was the first black woman to win a court case against a white man when she won custody of her son after running away, she became one of the era’s best known figures.
She is best-known for her speech on racial inequalities, “Ain’t I a Woman?”, delivered extemporaneously in 1851 at the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention. Inspirational Sojourner Truth quotes will motivate you and broaden your perspective on issues of race, gender, slavery, freedom, women rights and equality.
If you’re searching for quotes and sayings on life lessons that perfectly capture what you’d like to say or just want to feel inspired yourself, browse through an amazing collection of famous Harriet Tubman quotes, quotes by Malcolm X, and top Martin Luther King Jr quotes.
Famous Sojourner Truth Quotes
It is the mind that makes the body. Sojourner Truth
Life is a hard battle anyway. If we laugh and sing a little as we fight the good fight of freedom, it makes it all go easier. I will not allow my life’s light to be determined by the darkness around me. Sojourner Truth
I am not going to die, I’m going home like a shooting star. Sojourner Truth
And ain’t I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain’t I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man when I could get it and bear the lash as well! And ain’t I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain’t I a woman? Sojourner Truth
The slaveholders are terrible for promising to give you this or that, or such and such a privilege, if you will do thus and so, and when the time of fulfillment comes, and one claims the promise, they, forsooth, recollect nothing of the kind; and you are, like as not, taunted with being a liar. Sojourner Truth
If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them. Sojourner Truth
I know and do what is right better than many big men who read. Sojourner Truth
I feel safe even in the midst of my enemies; for the truth is powerful and will prevail. Sojourner Truth
God will take care of the poor trampled slave, but where will the slaveholder be when eternity begins? Sojourner Truth
Because of them I can now live the dream. I am the seed of the free, and I know it. I intend to bear great fruit. Sojourner Truth
Good man! Genuine gentleman! God bless George Thompson, the great hearted friend of my race. Sojourner Truth
When I left the house of bondage I left everything behind. I wasn’t going to keep nothing of Egypt on me, an so I went to the Lord an asked him to give me a new name. And he gave me Sojourner because I was to travel up and down the land showing the people their sins and bein a sign unto them. I told the Lord I wanted two names cause everybody else had two, and the Lord gave me Truth, because I was to declare the truth to the people. Sojourner Truth
Where there is so much racket, there must be something out of kilter. I think that twixt the Negroes of the South and the women at the North, all talking about rights, the white men will be in a fix pretty soon. Sojourner Truth
If women want any rights more than they’s got, why don’t they just take them, and not be talking about it? Sojourner Truth
We do as much, we eat as much, we want as much. Sojourner Truth
There is a great stir about colored men getting their rights, but not a word about the colored women; and if colored men get their rights, and not colored women theirs, you see the colored men will be masters over the women, and it will be just as bad as it was before. So I am for keeping the thing going while things are stirring; because if we wait till it is still, it will take a great while to get it going again. Sojourner Truth
Those are the same stars, and that is the same moon, that look down upon your brothers and sisters, and which they see as they look up to them, though they are ever so far away from us, and each other. Sojourner Truth
Truth is powerful and it prevails. Sojourner Truth
The rich rob the poor, and the poor rob one another. Sojourner Truth
I am above eighty years old; it is about time for me to be going. I have been forty years a slave and forty years free and would be here forty years more to have equal rights for all. Sojourner Truth
I have plowed and planted and gathered into barns, and no man could head me. And aren’t I a woman? Sojourner Truth
The rich rob the poor and the poor rob one another. Sojourner Truth
Religion without humanity is very poor human stuff. Sojourner Truth
Let individuals make the most of what God has given them, have their neighbors do the same, and then do all they can to serve each other. There is no use in one man, or one nation, to try to do or be everything. It is a good thing to be dependent on each other for something, it makes us civil and peaceable. Sojourner Truth
When I preaches, I has just one text to preach from, an I always preaches from this one. My text is, When I found Jesus. Sojourner Truth
Then that little man in black there, he says women can’t have as much rights as men, cause Christ wasn’t a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him. Sojourner Truth
The Lord only knows how many times I let my children go hungry rather than take secretly the bread I liked not to ask for. Sojourner Truth
Oh no, honey, I can’t read little things like letters. I read big things like men. Sojourner Truth
When I got religion, I found some work to do to benefit somebody. Sojourner Truth
Oh no, honey, I can’t read little things like letters. I read big things like men. Sojourner Truth
Oh God, you know I have no money, but you can make the people do for me, and you must make the people do for me. Sojourner Truth
I am not going to die, I’m going home like a shooting star. Sojourner Truth
It is written that there shall be a separation, and the sheep shall be separated from the goats. The other preachers have the sheep; I have the goats. And I have a few sheep among my goats, but they are very ragged. Sojourner Truth
Religion without humanity is very poor human stuff. Sojourner Truth
If the Lord comes and burns as you say he will I am not going away; I am going to stay here and stand the fire, like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego! And Jesus will walk with me through the fire and keep me from harm. Sojourner Truth
It is the mind that makes the body. Sojourner Truth
There is a great stir about colored men getting their rights, but not a word about the colored women; and if colored men get their rights, and not colored women theirs, you see, the colored men will be masters over the women, and it will be just as bad as it was before. Sojourner Truth
It is the mind that makes the body. Sojourner Truth
If women want any rights more than they’s got, why don’t they just take them, and not be talking about it. Sojourner Truth
You have been having our rights so long, that you think, like a slave holder, that you own us. I know that it is hard for one who has held the reins for so long to give up; it cuts like a knife. It will feel all the better when it closes up again. Sojourner Truth
The Lord gave me Sojourner, because I was to travel up an down the land, showin the people their sins an bein a sign unto them. Afterwards, I told the Lord I wanted another name cause everybody else had two names, and the Lord gave me Truth, because I was to declare the truth to people. Sojourner Truth
I am a woman’s rights. I have as much as any man, and can do as much work as any man. I have plowed and reaped and chopped and mowed, and can any man do more than that? Sojourner Truth
Though it seems curious, I do not remember ever asking for anything but what I got it. And I always received it as an answer to my prayers. Sojourner Truth
I must sojourn once to the ballot box before I die. I hear the ballot box is a beautiful glass globe, so you can see all the votesas they go in. Now, the first time I vote I’ll see if the woman’s vote looks any different from the rest if it makes any stir or commotion. If it don’t inside, it need not outside. Sojourner Truth
I tell you I can’t read a book, but I can read de people. Sojourner Truth
I have done a great deal of work, as much as a man, but did not get so much pay. I used to work in the field and bind grain, keeping up with the cradler; but men doing no more, got twice as much pay. We do as much, we eat as much, we want as much. Sojourner Truth
I know and do what is right better than many big men who read. Sojourner Truth
I did not run away, I walked away by daylight. Sojourner Truth
I feel safe in the midst of my enemies, for the truth is all powerful and will prevail. Sojourner Truth
Christ came from God and a woman. Man had nothing to do with him. Sojourner Truth
The rich rob the poor, and the poor rob one another. Sojourner Truth
It is hard for the old slave holding spirit to die. But die it must. Sojourner Truth
I tell you I can’t read a book, but I can read de people. Sojourner Truth
It is hard for the old slave holding spirit to die. But die it must. Sojourner Truth
I’m not going to die, I’m going home like a shooting star. Sojourner Truth
If my cup won’t hold but a pint and yourn holds a quart, wouldn’t ye be mean not to let me have my little half-measure full? Sojourner Truth
We do as much, we eat as much, we want as much. Sojourner Truth
What we give to the poor, we lend to the Lord. Sojourner Truth
Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him. Sojourner Truth
Those are the same stars, and that is the same moon, that look down upon your brothers and sisters, and which they see as they look up to them, though they are ever so far away from us, and each other. Sojourner Truth
When I got religion, I found some work to do to benefit somebody. Sojourner Truth
The Spirit calls me, and I must go. Sojourner Truth
Life is a hard battle anyway. If we laugh and sing a little as we fight the good fight of freedom, it makes it all go easier. I will not allow my life’s light to be determined by the darkness around me. Sojourner Truth
When I left the house of bondage I left everything behind. I wanted to keep nothing of Egypt on me, and so I went to the Lord and asked him to give me a new name. Sojourner Truth
If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them. Sojourner Truth
I don’t read such small stuff as letters, I read men and nations. I can see through a millstone, though I can’t see through a spelling book. What a narrow idea a reading qualification is for a voter! Sojourner Truth
I have plowed and planted and gathered into barns, and no man could head me. And aren’t I a woman? Sojourner Truth
That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain’t I a woman? Sojourner Truth
If women want rights more than they got, why don’t they just take them, and not be talking about it. Sojourner Truth
We do as much, we eat as much, we want as much. Sojourner Truth
Religion without humanity is very poor human stuff. Sojourner Truth
We do as much, we eat as much, we want as much. Sojourner Truth
Though it seems curious, I do not remember ever asking for anything but what I got it. And I always received it as an answer to my prayers. Sojourner Truth
I am above eighty years old. I suppose I am about the only colored woman that goes about to speak for the rights of the colored women. I want to keep the thing stirring, now that the ice is cracked. Sojourner Truth
Then I will speak upon the ashes. Sojourner Truth
This is beautiful indeed; the colored people have given this to the head of the government, and that government once sanctioned laws that would not permit its people to learn enough to enable them to read this book. Sojourner Truth
Because of them I can now live the dream. I am the seed of the free, and I know it. I intend to bear great fruit. Sojourner Truth
I can do as much work as any man. We do as much, we eat as much, we want as much. What we want is a little money. You men know that you get as much again as women when you write, or for what you do. When we get our rights, we shall not have to come to you for money, for then we shall have money enough of our own. Sojourner Truth
Oh no, honey, I can’t read little things like letters. I read big things like men. Sojourner Truth
Then I will speak upon the ashes. Sojourner Truth
If it is not a fit place for women, it is unfit for men to be there. Sojourner Truth
Obliged to you for hearing me, and now old Sojourner ain’t got nothing more to say. Sojourner Truth
I am glad to see that men are getting their rights, but I want women to get theirs, and while the water is stirring, I will step into the pool. Sojourner Truth
If women want rights more than they got, why don’t they just take them, and not be talking about it. Sojourner Truth
I did not run away, I walked away by daylight. Sojourner Truth
I’m not going to die, I’m going home like a shooting star. Sojourner Truth
I am for keeping the thing going while things are stirring. Because if we wait till it is still, it will take a great while to get it going again. Sojourner Truth
If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them. Sojourner Truth
I am above eighty years old. I suppose I am about the only colored woman that goes about to speak for the rights of the colored women. I want to keep the thing stirring, now that the ice is cracked. Sojourner Truth
I feel safe in the midst of my enemies, for the truth is all powerful and will prevail. Sojourner Truth
The rich rob the poor and the poor rob one another. Sojourner Truth
Then I will speak upon the ashes. Sojourner Truth
Those are the same stars, and that is the same moon, that look down upon your brothers and sisters, and which they see as they look up to them, though they are ever so far away from us, and each other. Sojourner Truth
If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down, these women together ought to be able to turn it right again. Sojourner Truth
Truth is powerful and it prevails. Sojourner Truth
