“I say nothing of father, for he is shrouded in a mystery I have never been able to penetrate. Slavery does away with fathers, as it does away with families.”

—  Frederick Douglass

Source: 1850s, My Bondage and My Freedom (1855), Chapter 3: Parentage.
Context: I say nothing of father, for he is shrouded in a mystery I have never been able to penetrate. Slavery does away with fathers, as it does away with families. Slavery has no use for either fathers or families, and its laws do not recognize their existence in the social arrangements of the plantation.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "I say nothing of father, for he is shrouded in a mystery I have never been able to penetrate. Slavery does away with fa…" by Frederick Douglass?
Frederick Douglass photo
Frederick Douglass 274
American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman 1818–1895

Related quotes

John Adams photo

“I had heard my father say that he never knew a piece of land run away or break.”

John Adams (1735–1826) 2nd President of the United States

Autobiography (1802–1807)
1800s

Warren Farrell photo

“Nothing threatens a father’s involvement in the family more than his obligation to be the family’s “financial womb,” creating “The Father’s ‘Catch-22’”: loving the family by being away from the family. It is the irony of traditional fatherhood: being a father by not being a father.”

Warren Farrell (1943) author, spokesperson, expert witness, political candidate

Source: Father and Child Reunion (2001), p. 90.

Sarah Michelle Gellar photo

“Just because you donate sperm does not make you a father. I don't have a father. I would never give him the credit or acknowledge him as my father.”

Sarah Michelle Gellar (1977) American actress

TVGuide.com, February 19, 2000 http://web.archive.org/20011114053556/www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,8955,00.html

John Aubrey photo

“His father was a Butcher, and I have been told heretofore by some of the neighbours, that when he was a boy he exercised his father's Trade, but when he kill'd a Calfe he would doe it in high style, and make a Speech.”

John Aubrey book Brief Lives

"William Shakespeare"
Brief Lives

Dmitry Medvedev photo

“I believe in Father Frost. But not too deeply. But anyway, you know, I'm not one of those people who are able to tell the kids that Father Frost does not exist.”

Dmitry Medvedev (1965) Russian Prime Minister and former president

telegraph.co.uk http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/vladimir-putin/9731278/Dmitry-Medvedev-muses-on-aliens-and-Vladimir-Putins-lateness.html

Warren Farrell photo

“A father’s traditional role prepared him to love his family by being away from the love of his family.”

Warren Farrell (1943) author, spokesperson, expert witness, political candidate

Women Can't Hear What Men Don't Say (2000)

“Why a raven?"
"To honor my father."
"The writing under it, is that Cyrillic?"
"Yes."
"What does it say?"
"Dar Vorona. Gift of the Raven. I am my father's gift."
"The raven is holding a bloody sword."
"I never said it was a nice gift.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Bites

Frederick William Robertson photo

“There is a power in the soul, quite separate from the intellect, which sweeps away or recognizes the marvelous, by which God is felt. Faith stands serenely far above the reach of the atheism of science. It does not rest on the wonderful, but on the eternal wisdom and goodness of God. The revelation of the Son was to proclaim a Father, not a mystery. No science can sweep away the everlasting love which the heart feds, and which the intellect does not even pretend to judge or recognize.”

Frederick William Robertson (1816–1853) British writer and theologian

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 220.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow photo

“"O father! I see a gleaming light.
Oh say, what may it be?"
But the father answered never a word,
A frozen corpse was he.”

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) American poet

St. 12.
The Wreck of the Hesperus (1842)

Tom DeLay photo

“I have seen these liberal psychologists and sociologists talk about there is no need for the man in the family. The woman can take care of it. A woman can take care of the family. It takes a man to provide structure. To provide stability. Not that a woman can’t provide stability, I’m not saying that… It does take a father, though.”

Tom DeLay (1947) American Republican politician

http://www.house.gov/schakowsky/press2004a/pr2_10_2004delay.html On the role of women in the home. ~ From a radio interview http://thewaronfaith.com/mog-tomdelay.htm. His wife, Christine DeLay quickly asked to "edit this out," then turned to Tom and said: "This is not a good thing for you to be saying".
2000s

Related topics