Thomas Wentworth Higginson Quotes

A collection of quotes by Thomas Wentworth Higginson.

Thomas Wentworth Higginson (1823-1911) was an American abolitionist, writer, and soldier. He actively participated in the Underground Railroad and was a vocal advocate for women's rights and suffrage. Higginson became colonel of the first black regiment during the American Civil War, the 1st South Carolina Volunteers, and later chronicled his experiences in "Army Life in a Black Regiment." Additionally, he was a prolific essayist and contributed to various literary magazines. Higginson's commitment to social justice and his literary contributions make him an important figure in 19th-century American history.

Great men are rarely isolated mountain-peaks; they are the s

Great men are rarely isolated mountain-peaks; they are the summits of ranges.

Thomas Wentworth Higginson


Do not waste a minute -- not a second -- in trying to demons

Do not waste a minute -- not a second -- in trying to demonstrate to others the merits of your performance. If your work does not vindicate itself, you cannot vindicate it.

Thomas Wentworth Higginson

Effort

All...religions show the same disparity between belief and p

All...religions show the same disparity between belief and practice, and each is safe till it tries to exclude the rest. Test each sect by its best or its worst as you will, by its high-water mark of virtue or its low-water mark of vice. But falsehood begins when you measure the ebb of any other religion against the flood-tide of your own. There is a noble and a base side to every history.

Thomas Wentworth Higginson

Religion