Words To Live By, Words Of Wisdom, And Words To Ponder.

"At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. O! had I the ability, and could reach the nation’s ear, I would, today, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced." 

-- From Frederick Douglass, "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro" (July 5, 1852), excerpted in Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove, editors, Voices of a People's History of the United States.