quotations about slavery
Within a few years past, the subject of slavery has been repeatedly discussed, in the legislature of this state, with great force of reasoning, and eloquence. The injustice of it has been generally, if not uniformly acknowledged; and the practice of it severely reprobated. But, when the question of total abolition has been seriously put, it has met with steady opposition, and has hitherto miscarried, on the ground of political expediency--That is, it is confessed to be morally wrong, to subject any class of our fellow creatures to the evils of slavery; but asserted to be politically right, to keep them in such subjugation.
THEODORE DWIGHT
an oration before the Connecticut Society, 1794
Nearly all men are slaves for the same reason that the Spartans assigned for the servitude of the Persians -- lack of power to pronounce the syllable, "No." To be able to utter that word and live alone, are the only means to preserve one's freedom and one's character.
SEBASTIEN ROCH NICOLAS CHAMFORT
The Cynic's Breviary
Colonel Lloyd's slaves would boast his ability to buy and sell Jacob Jepson. Mr. Jepson's slaves would boast his ability to whip Colonel Lloyd. These quarrels would almost always end in a fight between the parties, and those that whipped were supposed to have gained the point at issue. They seemed to think that the greatness of their masters was transferable to themselves.
FREDERICK DOUGLASS
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
When you believe, or are led to believe, you are unable to act upon the greatest desires of the soul, the result is mental and spiritual enslavement.
IYANLA VANZANT
Acts of Faith
In proportion as slavery prevails in a State, the Government, however democratic in name, must be aristocratic in fact. The power lies in a part instead of the whole; in the hands of property, not of numbers.
JAMES MADISON
Notes for Essays
It is much to be wished that slavery may be abolished. The honour of the States, as well as justice and humanity, in my opinion, loudly call upon them to emancipate these unhappy people. To contend for our own liberty, and to deny that blessing to others, involves an inconsistency not to be excused.
JOHN JAY
letter to R. Lushington, March 15, 1786
Excess of liberty, whether it lies in state or individuals, seems only to pass into excess of slavery.
PLATO
The Republic
He got his fat dreams, he got his slaves
He got his profits, he owns our cage,
He has his prisons, he has his gates
He has his judges, they have our fate
RICHIE HAVENS
"Fates"
It is a dire calamity to have a slave; it is an expiable curse to be one.
WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR
Selections from the Writings of Walter Savage Landor
Long ago mama Eve, our good old mother Eve, partook of the forbidden fruit, and this made a slave of her. Adam hated very much to have her taken out of the garden of Eden, and now our old daddy says I believe I will eat of the fruit and become a slave too. This was the first introduction of slavery upon this earth; and there has been not a son or daughter of Adam from that day to this but what were slaves in the true sense of the word. That slavery will continue, until there is a people raised up upon the face of the earth who will contend for righteous principles, who will not only believe in but operate, with every power and faculty given to them to help to establish the kingdom of God, to overcome the devil, and drive him from the earth, then will this curse be removed.
BRIGHAM YOUNG
speech in Joint Session of the Legislature, February 5, 1852
Slavery brutalizes man; it makes a brute not merely of the slave, but of the slave-holder.
C. L. REMOND
attributed, Day's Collacon
People don't buy products--they buy people. It's called slavery. I mean networking. It's called networking.
JAROD KINTZ
This Book Is Not For Sale
During ten or fifteen years I had been, as it were, dragging a heavy chain which no strength of mine could break; I was not only a slave, but a slave for life. I might become a husband, a father, an aged man, but through all, from birth to death, from the cradle to the grave, I had felt myself doomed. All efforts I had previously made to secure my freedom had not only failed, but had seemed only to rivet my fetters the more firmly, and to render my escape more difficult. Baffled, entangled, and discouraged, I had at times asked myself the question, May not my condition after all be God's work, and ordered for a wise purpose, and if so, Is not submission my duty? A contest had in fact been going on in my mind for a long time, between the clear consciousness of right and the plausible make-shifts of theology and superstition. The one held me an abject slave--a prisoner for life, punished for some transgression in which I had no lot nor part; and the other counseled me to manly endeavor to secure my freedom. This contest was now ended; my chains were broken, and the victory brought me unspeakable joy.
FREDERICK DOUGLASS
"My Escape from Slavery", The Century Illustrated Magazine, November 1881
Slavery, however easy may be its chains, cannot be altogether divested of its bitterness, and can only be regarded as the prism of the soul, and a public dungeon.
LONGINUS
attributed, Day's Collacon
Slavery, in all its forms, in all its degrees, is a violation of Divine law, and a degradation of human nature.
JACQUES-PIERRE BRISSOT DE WARVILLE
New Travels in the United States of America, Performed in 1788
Slavery impairs our strength as a community, and poisons our morals at the fountain head.
WILLIAM GASTON
attributed, Day's Collacon
Slavery is bad for the slave, but far worse for the master, as sapping his character and making impossible that moral vigour of the individual on which is based the collective vigour of the nation.
LEONARD HUXLEY
"Life of Professor Huxley", Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley
Of course, most white Southerners of the period were neither villains nor heroes. The majority did not enslave other people, but neither did they advocate the end of slavery or even the softening of slavery. They did not work to halt the worst practices of the era -- the sale of children away from parents, the separation of husbands and wives -- nor did they seek to end the concubinage of enslaved girls and women. Many did not own slaves simply because they couldn't afford them.
LISA RICHARDSON
"A daughter of the Confederacy corrects history", Gulf Times, August 29, 2017
Look back, to slavery, to suffrage, to integration and one thing is clear. Fashions in bigotry come and go. The right thing lasts.
ANNA QUINDLEN
New York Times, January 31, 1993
For some slaves, the first step out of bondage is to learn to see their lives with new eyes. Their reality is a social world where they have their place and some assurance of a subsistence diet. Born into slavery, they cannot easily redefine their lives outside the frame of enslavement.
KEVIN BALES
Understanding Global Slavery