Martin Delany Quotes

Our elevation must be the result of self-efforts and work of our own hands. No other human power can accomplish it. If we but determine it shall be so, it will be so.

The rights of no oppressed people have ever yet been obtained by a voluntary act of justice on the part of the oppressors.

Let us have an education, that shall practically develop our thinking faculties and manhood; and then, and only then, shall we be able to vie with our oppressors, go where we may . . .

Every people should be the originators of their own destiny, the projectors of their own schemes, and creators of the events that lead to their destiny -- the consummation of their own desires.

A serpent is a serpent, and none the less a viper, because it is nestled in the bosom of an honest-hearted man.

It is only in the mountains that I can fully appreciate my existence as a man in America, and my own native land

The claims of no people, according to established policy and usage, are respected by any nation, until they are presented in a national capacity.