Quote#Politics & Power
For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle…
Quote byFrederick Douglass · 1818–1895
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? (1852).
English (original)
For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced.
— Frederick Douglass
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