Sojourner Truth quotes still carry the weight of a woman who turned her own life into a testimony against injustice. Born into slavery and later becoming one of the most powerful abolitionist and women’s rights voices of the 19th century, she spoke with a clarity that still resonates today. 

This collection of Sojourner Truth quotes brings together her most memorable words on freedom, faith, equality, and resilience. 

You are looking for inspiration, historical insight, or a reminder of how far courage can carry a single voice, these quotes reflect a legacy built on truth and unshakable conviction.

Who Is Sojourner Truth

Sojourner Truth was born Isabella Baumfree in 1797 into slavery in Swartekill, New York. She escaped to freedom in 1826 with her infant daughter and later became the first Black woman to win a court case against a white man when she fought to recover her son from illegal sale into slavery. 

In 1843, she changed her name to Sojourner Truth, believing she was called to travel the country and speak the truth about slavery and equality. 

She became one of the most powerful abolitionist and women’s rights voices of the 19th century, best known for her 1851 address at the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention. 

She continued advocating for freed slaves and women’s suffrage until her death in 1883 in Battle Creek, Mich

SUMMARY 

Sojourner Truth Quotes

A short collection of the words Sojourner Truth left behind, drawn from her speeches, sermons, and personal recollections.

• I have had trouble enough and sorrow enough in my life, but I am grateful for every moment of it.
• I am not going to die, I am going home like a shooting star.
• Though it seems curious, I do not remember ever asking for anything but what I got.
• I am above eighty years old, it is about time for me to be going.
• I know and do what is right better than many big men who read.
• The rich rob the poor, and the poor rob one another.
• Good man, genuine gentleman, God bless George Thompson, the great hearted friend of my race.
• I told the Lord I wanted two names, cause everybody else had two, and the Lord gave me Truth, because I was to declare the truth to the people.
• When I left the house of bondage I left everything behind, I was not going to keep nothing of Egypt on me.
• I could not read a book, but I could read people.

Sojourner Truth Famous Quotes

The lines most often remembered from her, especially from the Akron address that made her a household name.

• If women want any rights more than they got, why don’t they just take them and not be talking about it.
• That man over there says women need to be helped into carriages and lifted over ditches, nobody ever helps me into carriages or over mud puddles, and ain’t I a woman.
• I have ploughed and planted and gathered into barns, and no man could head me, and ain’t I a woman.
• If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back and get it right side up again.
• I feel safe even in the midst of my enemies, for the truth is powerful and will prevail.
• Well, if woman upset the world, do give her a chance to set it right side up again.
• Now, if you want me to get out of the world, you had better get the women voting soon.
• Truth is powerful and it prevails.
• That little man in black there says women can’t have as much rights as men, cause Christ was not a woman, where did your Christ come from, from God and a woman.
• I have been forty years a slave and forty years free, and would be here forty years more to have equal rights for all.

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Quotes From Sojourner Truth

Words that trace her journey from bondage to becoming one of the most respected voices of her era.

• I am the seed of the free, and I know it, I intend to bear great fruit.
• I go around testifying, and letting the world know the truth.
• I am pleading for my people, a poor down trodden race, who dwell in this Christian land.
• I suppose I am kept here because something remains for me to do, I suppose I am yet to help to break the chain.
• Every place I have ever been to, I have almost always been the only colored woman among all the whites.
• I suppose I am about the only colored woman who goes about to speak for the rights of the colored women.
• Children, I talk to God and God talks to me.
• If the Lord comes and burns, as you say he will, I am not going away, I am going to stay here and stand the fire.
• I want to keep the thing stirring, now that the ice is cracked.
• I have done a great deal of work, as much as a man, but did not get so much pay.

Quotes By Sojourner Truth

Statements that show her sharp, direct approach to activism and public speaking.

• There is a great stir about colored men getting their rights, but not a word about colored women.
• If colored men get their rights, and not colored women theirs, the colored men will be masters over the women, and it will be just as bad as it was before.
• I feel that if I have to answer for the deeds done in my body just as much as a man, I have a right to have just as much as a man.
• We do as much, we eat as much, we want as much.
• You men know that you get as much again as women when you write or for what you do.
• What we want is a little money.
• I heard talk about the Constitution and the rights of man, I came up and I took hold of this Constitution, it looks mighty big, and I feel for my rights, but they are not there.
• God, what ails this Constitution.
• I come from another field, the country of the slave, they have got their liberty, so much good luck to have slavery partly destroyed, not entirely, I want it root and branch destroyed.
• I have a right to have just as much as a man, and I mean to have it.

Sojourner Truth Quotes on Equality

Lines that speak directly to her belief that rights meant nothing unless they reached everyone.

• I feel safe in the midst of my enemies, for the truth is all powerful and will prevail.
• There is a great stir about colored men getting their rights, but colored women deserve theirs just the same.
• Man is so selfish that he has gathered women’s rights and his own together, and yet will not give women their rights.
• If colored men get their rights, colored women must get theirs too, or nothing has truly changed.
• I want women to have their rights, and I mean to see that they get them.
• We do as much, we eat as much, we want as much, and we deserve as much.
• Because of them I can now live the dream, I am the seed of the free, and I know it.
• I am about the only colored woman who goes about pleading the cause of the rights of colored women, and I mean to keep at it.
• It is time women had something more than a vice presidency, they want to have a hand in voting also.
• Frederick, is God dead.

Sojourner Truth Quotes on Freedom

Reflections from a woman who lived through slavery and made freedom her lifelong cause.

• I have been forty years a slave and forty years free, and would stay forty years more to see equal rights for all.
• When I left the house of bondage, I left everything of Egypt behind me.
• I want slavery to destroy root and branch, not just partly end.
• I told the Lord I wanted two names, and he gave me Truth, because I was sent to declare the truth to the people.
• I feel safe even among my enemies, because the truth I carry will prevail in the end.
• I suppose I am kept on this earth because there is still work left for me to do in breaking the chain.
• Freedom was not given to me, I went and got it, and I mean to see others get theirs too.
• I am the seed of the free, and I intend to bear great fruit from it.
• If the Lord comes and burns as you say he will, I will stand the fire and not run from it.
• Truth is powerful, and it is truth alone that will set the captive free.

Sojourner Truth Famous Quote

One final look at the words that made her voice impossible to forget.

• And ain’t I a woman.
• If women want any rights more than they have got, let them take them and stop talking about it.
• If the first woman God made was strong enough to turn the world upside down alone, women together can turn it right side up again.
• I have ploughed and planted and gathered into barns, and no man could outdo me.
• The truth is powerful, and it will prevail.
• I am not going to die, I am going home like a shooting star.
• I have had enough sorrow in my life, but I am grateful for every bit of it.
• Where did Christ come from, from God and a woman, man had nothing to do with it.
• I have been forty years a slave and forty years free, and I still have work left to do.
• Truth is my name, and truth is what I came to declare.

Conclusion

These Sojourner Truth quotes stand as a lasting reminder that one voice, grounded in truth and courage, can shape history. 

Her words on freedom, faith, and equality continue to inspire people fighting for justice in their own lives and communities. 

Revisiting these Sojourner Truth quotes is a way of honoring not just her story, but the ongoing pursuit of dignity and equal rights she gave her life to.

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