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Wendell Phillips

Wendell Phillips Quotes

Lawyer

Wendell Phillips was a distinguished American lawyer, abolitionist, and orator. Born on November 29, 1811, he was a leading figure in the abolitionist movement and a vocal opponent of slavery. Known for his eloquent speeches and advocacy for civil rights, Phillips passed away on February 2, 1884.

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Famous Wendell Phillips Quotes

“A large body of people, sufficient to make a nation, have come to the conclusion that they will have a government of a certain form. Who denies them the right? Standing with the principles of '76 behind us, who can deny them the right? ... I maintain on the principles of '76 that Abraham Lincoln has no right to a soldier in Fort Sumter. ... You can never make such a war popular. ... The North never will endorse such a war.”

People War Body Government Form Certain Nations Behinds Principles Standing Independence Soldier Deny Conclusion Sufficient Republic Sovereignty Abraham Forts

Author:Wendell Phillips

“Boredom, after all, is a form of criticism.”

Form Criticism Boredom Constructive Criticism Funny Boredom

Author:Wendell Phillips

“Take the whole range of imaginative literature, and we are all wholesale borrowers. In every matter that relates to invention, to use, or beauty or form, we are borrowers.”

Writing Matter Whole Use Form Literature Beauty Invention Relate Range Imaginative Plagiarism Wholesale Borrowers

Book:Speeches, Lectures, and Letters, Second Series

Source: Speeches, Lectures, and Letters, Second Series

“Government arrogates to itself that it alone forms men. Everybody knows that government never began anything. It is the whole world that thinks and governs.”

Thinking Knows Men World Whole Government Form Whole World

Book:Wendell Phillips on Civil Rights and Freedom

Source: Wendell Phillips on Civil Rights and Freedom

“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty; power is ever stealing from the many to the few. The manna of popular liberty must be gathered each day or it is rotten. The living sap of today outgrows the dead rind of yesterday. The hand entrusted with power becomes, either form human depravity or esprit de corps, the necessary enemy of the people. Only by continued oversight can the democrat in office be prevented from hardening into a despot; only by unintermitted agitation can a people be sufficiently awake to principle not to let liberty be smothered in material prosperity.”