A man who will enslave his own blood, may not be safely relied on for magnamity.

It was a glorious resurrection, from the tomb of slavery, to the heaven of slavery. My long-crushed spirit rose, cowardice departed, bold defiance took its place; and I now resolved that, however long I might remain a slave in form, the day had passed forever when I could be a slave in fact.

To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker.

Civil war was not a mere strife for territory and dominion, but a contest of civilization against barbarism.

If I have advocated the cause of the Negro, it is not because I am a Negro, but because I am a man.

A little learning, indeed, may be a dangerous thing, but the want of learning is a calamity to any people.

I have observed this in my experience of slavery, - that whenever my condition was improved, instead of its increasing my contentment, it only increased my desire to be free, and set me to thinking of plans to gain my freedom. I have found that, to make a contented slave, it is necessary to make a thoughtless one. It is necessary to darken his moral and mental vision, and, as far as possible, to annihilate the power of reason. He must be able to detect no inconsistencies in slavery; he must be made to feel that slavery is right; and he can be brought to that only when he ceased to be a man.