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Slavery quotes

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“The excess of liberty, whether in States or individuals, seems only to pass into excess of slavery.” Plato, “The Republic”

“There is no slave but the creature that wills against its creator.” George MacDonald, “Lilith” - 1895

“A woman's standard of truthfulness was tacitly held to be lower: she was the subject creature, and versed in the arts of the enslaved.” Edith Wharton, “The Age of Innocence” - 1920

“Marriage is the only actual bondage known to our law. There remain no legal slaves, except the mistress of every house.” John Stuart Mill, “The Subjection of Women” - 1869

“Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains.” Jean-Jacques Rousseau, “The Social Contract” - 1762

“Every tone was a testimony against slavery, and a prayer to God for deliverance from chains.” Frederick Douglass, “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” - 1845

“Even that has its reason; it is often better to be in chains than to be free.” Franz Kafka, “The Trial” - 1925

“Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people.” Charlie Chaplin, “My Autobiography” - 1964

“So every bondman in his own hand bears the power to cancel his captivity.” William Shakespeare, “Julius Caesar” - 1623

“There is a devilish mercy in the judge, if you'll implore it, that will free your life, but fetter you till death.” William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure” - 1623

“I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.” Martin Luther King, Jr., “I have a Dream” - 28 August 1963

“In giving freedom to the slave we assure freedom to the free—honorable alike in what we give and what we preserve. We shall nobly save or meanly lose the last best hope of earth.” Abraham Lincoln, “State of the Union Address” - 1 December 1862

“Without slavery the rebellion could never have existed; without slavery it could not continue.” Abraham Lincoln, “State of the Union Address” - 1 December 1862

“In a certain sense the liberation of slaves is the destruction of property—property acquired by descent or by purchase, the same as any other property.” Abraham Lincoln, “State of the Union Address” - 1 December 1862

“And so tyranny naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme form of liberty?” Plato, “The Republic”

“Enjoying things which are pleasant; that is not the evil: it is the reducing of our moral self to slavery by them that is.” Thomas Carlyle, “On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and The Heroic in History” - 1841

“I am far from pretending that wives are in general no better treated than slaves; but no slave is a slave to the same lengths, and in so full a sense of the word, as a wife is.” John Stuart Mill, “The Subjection of Women” - 1869

“At the other extremity of the circle, unanimity recurs; this is the case when the citizens, having fallen into servitude, have lost both liberty and will.” Jean-Jacques Rousseau, “The Social Contract” - 1762

“For of all slaveholders with whom I have ever met, religious slaveholders are the worst. I have ever found them the meanest and basest, the most cruel and cowardly, of all others.” Frederick Douglass, “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” - 1845

“The singing of a man cast away upon a desolate island might be as appropriately considered as evidence of contentment and happiness, as the singing of a slave; the songs of the one and of the other are prompted by the same emotion.” Frederick Douglass, “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” - 1845

“Slaves sing most when they are most unhappy. The songs of the slave represent the sorrows of his heart; and he is relieved by them, only as an aching heart is relieved by its tears.” Frederick Douglass, “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” - 1845

“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.” Frederick Douglass, “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” - 1845

“I assert most unhesitatingly, that the religion of the south is a mere covering for the most horrid crimes,—a justifier of the most appalling barbarity,—a sanctifier of the most hateful frauds,—and a dark shelter under, which the darkest,...” Frederick Douglass, “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” - 1845

“I will give Mr. Freeland the credit of being the best master I ever had, till I became my own master.” Frederick Douglass, “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” - 1845

“I had as well be killed running as die standing.” Frederick Douglass, “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” - 1845

“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.” Frederick Douglass, “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” - 1845

“The last and most successful one was that of tarring his fence all around; after which, if a slave was caught with any tar upon his person, it was deemed sufficient proof that he had either been into the garden, or had tried to get in.” Frederick Douglass, “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” - 1845

“I was broken in body, soul, and spirit. My natural elasticity was crushed, my intellect languished, the disposition to read departed, the cheerful spark that lingered about my eye died; the dark night of slavery closed in upon me; and behold a...” Frederick Douglass, “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” - 1845

“A man must be disposed to judge of emancipation by other tests than whether it has increased the produce of sugar,—and to hate slavery for other reasons than because it starves men and whips women,—before he is ready to lay the first stone of...” Frederick Douglass, “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” - 1845

“DEBT, n. An ingenious substitute for the chain and whip of the slave-driver.” Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil's Dictionary” - 1911

“The whole commerce between master and slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions, the most unremitting despotism on the one part, and degrading submissions on the other.” Thomas Jefferson, “Notes on the State of Virginia” - 1785

“Being born is like being kidnapped. And then sold into slavery. People are working every minute. The machinery is always going. Even when you sleep.” Andy Warhol, “The Philosophy of Andy Warhol” - 1975

“Religion, the dominion of the human mind; Property, the dominion of human needs; and Government, the dominion of human conduct, represent the stronghold of man's enslavement and all the horrors it entails.” Emma Goldman, “Anarchism and Other Essays” - 1910

Related topics

freedom religion women liberty chains property singing emancipation life marriage truth God happiness dream killing hypocrisy hope man sorrow cowardice

Related authors

Frederick Douglass (12)
Abraham Lincoln (3)
William Shakespeare (2)
Plato (2)
John Stuart Mill (2)
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (2)
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1)
Thomas Carlyle (1)
George MacDonald (1)
Edith Wharton (1)
Franz Kafka (1)
Ambrose Bierce (1)
Thomas Jefferson (1)
Charlie Chaplin (1)
Andy Warhol (1)
Emma Goldman (1)

Related sources

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (12)
State of the Union Address (3)
The Republic (2)
The Subjection of Women (2)
The Social Contract (2)
Julius Caesar (1)
Measure for Measure (1)
I have a Dream (1)
On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and The Heroic in History (1)
Lilith (1)
The Age of Innocence (1)
The Trial (1)
The Devil's Dictionary (1)
Notes on the State of Virginia (1)
My Autobiography (1)
The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (1)
Anarchism and Other Essays (1)