William Lloyd Garrison, who signed and printed his name Wm. Lloyd Garrison, was a prominent American abolitionist, journalist, suffragist, and social reformer. He published a newspaper, The Liberator (1831–65), and helped lead the successful abolitionist campaign against slavery in the United States. Inspirational William Lloyd Garrison quotes will encourage you to think a little deeper than you usually would and broaden your perspective.
If you’re searching for famous activist quotes to inspire change that perfectly capture what you’d like to say or just want to feel inspired yourself, browse through an amazing collection of most gripping David Walker quotes, important quotes by John Brown, and top Sojourner Truth quotations.
Most Famous William Lloyd Garrison Quotes
I am aware that many object to the severity of my language; but is there not cause for severity?
We love the land of our nativity, only as we love all other lands.
There is no safety where there is no strength; no strength without union; no union without justice; no justice where faith and truth are wanting. The right to be free is a truth planted in the hearts of men.
I am in earnest, I will not equivocate, I will not excuse, I will not retreat a single inch, and I will be heard.
In proportion as we perceive and embrace the truth do we become just, heroic, magnanimous, divine.
Is error, though unwittingly supported by a host of good men, stronger than truth?
Are right and wrong convertible terms, dependant upon popular opinion?
No man shall rule over me with my consent. I will rule over no man.
I cherish as strong a love for the land of my nativity as any man living.
To be no better, no wiser, no greater than the past, is to be little and foolish and bad; it is to misapply noble means, to sacrifice glorious opportunities for the performance of sublime deeds, to become cumberers of the ground.
While a slave remains in his fetters, the land must have no rest.
Be faithful, be vigilant, be untiring in your efforts to break every yoke, and let the oppressed go free.
I have not come here with reference to any flag but that of freedom.
There must be no compromise with slavery – none whatever. Nothing is gained, everything is lost, by subordinating principle to expedience.
Inspirational William Lloyd Garrison Quotes
Enslave the liberty of but one human being and the liberties of the world are put in peril.
It is an abuse of language to talk of the slavery of wages… We cannot see that it is wrong to give or receive wages.
My crime is that I will not go with the multitude to do evil.
Our own vices are too strong for us, and keep us in perpetual alarm.
Liberty for each, for all, and forever!
My fanaticism is that I insist on the American people abolishing slavery, or ceasing to operate on the rights of man.
Our country is the world, our countrymen are all mankind.
You cannot possibly have a broader basis for any government than that which includes all the people, with all their rights in their hands, and with an equal power to maintain their rights.
To rebuke great and good men for their conduct, and to impeach their discernment, is the highest effort of moral courage.
The great mass of mankind shun the labor and responsibility of forming opinions for themselves. The question is not: what is true? But: what is popular?
We are the friends of reform; but that is not reform, which, in curing one evil, threatens to inflict a thousand others.
I will say, finally, that I despair of the Republic while slavery exists therein.
We may be personally defeated, but our principles, never!
The apathy of the people is enough to make every statue leap from its pedestal…
By no precedent, no example, no law, no compact, no purchase, no bequest, no inheritance, no combination of circumstances, is slaveholding right or justifiable.
Water will seek its level; nature will have free course, and heart will answer to heart.
To discard a portion of scripture is not necessarily to reject the truth, but maybe the highest evidence that one can give of his love of truth.
But to tyrants, I will give no quarter, nor waste arguments where they will certainly be lost.
Amazing William Lloyd Garrison Quotes
Wherever there is a human being, I see God-given rights inherent in that being.
I will be as harsh as truth, and uncompromising as justice…
All the selfishness of our nature cries aloud for a better security.
On this subject, I do not wish to think, or to speak, or write, with moderation.
My singularity is that when I say that freedom is of God and slavery is of the devil, I mean just what I say.
The success of any great moral enterprise does not depend upon numbers.
I have a need to be all on fire, for I have mountains of ice about me to melt.
Slavery will not be overthrown without excitement, a most tremendous excitement.
I am proud of her civil, political, and religious institutions – of her high advancement in science, literature, and the arts – of her general prosperity and grandeur. But I have some solemn accusations to bring against her.
With reasonable men, I will reason; with humane men, I will plead.
Everyone should be treated fairly no matter what they look like.
Why should we slumber at this momentous crisis?
Little boldness is needed to assail the opinions and practices of notoriously wicked men.
We have a natural right, therefore, to seek the abolition of slavery throughout the globe.
