Martin Delany Quotations

Every people should be originators of their own destiny.

If we treated everyone we meet with the same affection we bestow upon our favorite cat, they, too, would purr.

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

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

We must make an issue, create an event, and establish a national position for ourselves: and never may expect to be respected as men and women, until we have undertaken some fearless, bold, and adventurous deeds of daring . . .

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

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.

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 . . .

I am not in favor of caste, nor separation of the brotherhood of mankind, and would as willingly live among white men as Black, if I had equal possession and enjoyment of privileges, but I shall never be reconciled living among them subservient to their will.

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

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.