WIST Quotations

Wheatley, Phyllis -- Letter (1774-02-11) to Samson Occom

Dave — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 22:53:04 +0000

In every human Breast, God has implanted a Principle, which we call Love of Freedom; it is impatient of Oppression, and pants for Deliverance.

Phyllis Wheatley (1753-1784) African-American poet, manumitted (1773) enslaved person [also "Phillis" and/or "Wheatly"]
Letter (1774-02-11) to Samson Occom
(Source)

Regarding slavery. First printed in the Connecticut Gazette (1774-03-11) through Rev. Occom, her longtime friend.

Russell, Bertrand -- Lecture (1949-01-16), “The Conflict of Technique and Human Nature,” Reith Lecture, “Authority and the Individual” No. 4, BBC Radio

Dave — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 17:17:12 +0000

Those who believe that the voice of the people is the voice of God may infer that any unusual opinion or peculiar taste is almost a form of impiety, and is to be viewed as a culpable rebellion against the legitimate authority of the herd. This will only be avoided if liberty is as much valued as democracy, and it is realized that a society in which each is the slave of all is only a little better than one in which each is the slave of a despot. There is equality where all are slaves, as well as where all are free. This shows that equality, by itself, is not enough to make a good society.

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Lecture (1949-01-16), “The Conflict of Technique and Human Nature,” Reith Lecture, “Authority and the Individual” No. 4, BBC Radio
(Source)

This passage was not included in the original broadcast (transcript), but only in the collected and edited version in Authority and the Individual (1949).

More on "the voice of the people is the voice of God" here.

Carlyle, Thomas -- Lecture (1840-05-08), “The Hero as Prophet,” Home House, Portman Square, London

Dave — Thu, 05 Feb 2026 23:48:04 +0000

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 (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Lecture (1840-05-08), “The Hero as Prophet,” Home House, Portman Square, London
(Source)

The lecture notes were collected by Carlyle into On Heroes, Hero-Worship, & the Heroic in History, Lecture 2 (1841).

Bible, Vol. 2. New Testament -- Book 9. Letter to the Galatians 3:27ff (Gal 3:27–28) [JB (1966)]

Dave — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 16:54:33 +0000

All baptised in Christ, you have all clothed yourselves in Christ, and there are no more distinctions between Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female, but all of you are one in Christ Jesus.

[ὅσοι γὰρ εἰς Χριστὸν ἐβαπτίσθητε, Χριστὸν ἐνεδύσασθε. οὐκ ἔνι Ἰουδαῖος οὐδὲ Ἕλλην, οὐκ ἔνι δοῦλος οὐδὲ ἐλεύθερος, οὐκ ἔνι ἄρσεν καὶ θῆλυ· πάντες γὰρ ὑμεῖς εἷς ἐστε ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ.]

The Bible (The New Testament) (AD 1st - 2nd C) Christian sacred scripture
Book 9. Letter to the Galatians 3:27ff (Gal 3:27–28) [JB (1966)]
(Source)

(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:

For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
[KJV (1611)]

Every one of you that has been baptised has been clothed in Christ. There can be neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither slave nor freeman, there can be neither male nor female -- for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
[NJB (1985)]

You were baptized into union with Christ, and now you are clothed, so to speak, with the life of Christ himself. So there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles, between slaves and free people, between men and women; you are all one in union with Christ Jesus.
[GNT (1992 ed.)]

All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither slave nor free; nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
[CEB (2011)]

As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.
[NRSV (2021 ed.)]

Arendt, Hannah -- On Revolution, Introduction (1963)

Dave — Tue, 23 Dec 2025 21:58:54 +0000

To sound off with a cheerful “give me liberty or give me death” sort of argument in the face of the unprecedented and inconceivable potential of destruction in nuclear warfare is not even hollow; it is downright ridiculous. Indeed it seems so obvious that it is a very different thing to risk one’s own life for the life and freedom of one’s country and one’s posterity from risking the very existence of the human species for the same purpose that it is difficult not to suspect the defenders of the “better dead than red” or “better death than slavery” slogans of bad faith.
Which of course is not to say the reverse, “better red than dead,” has any more to recommend itself; when an old truth ceases to be applicable, it does not become any truer by being stood on its head.
As a matter of fact, to the extent that the discussion of the war question today is conducted in these terms, it is easy to detect a mental reservation on both sides. Those who say “better dead than red” actually think: The losses may not be as great as some anticipate, our civilization will survive; while those who say “better red than dead” actually think: Slavery will not be so bad, man will not change his nature, freedom will not vanish from the earth forever. In other words, the bad faith of the discussants lies in that both dodge the preposterous alternative they themselves have proposed; they are not serious.

Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist
On Revolution, Introduction (1963)
(Source)

Ingersoll, Robert Green -- Lecture (1872-01-29), “The Gods,” Fairbury Hall, Fairbury, Illinois

Dave — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 19:21:26 +0000

If we admit that some infinite being has controlled the destinies of persons and peoples, history becomes a most cruel and bloody farce. Age after age, the strong have trampled upon the weak; the crafty and heartless have ensnared and enslaved the simple and innocent, and nowhere, in all the annals of mankind, has any god succored the oppressed.

Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Lecture (1872-01-29), “The Gods,” Fairbury Hall, Fairbury, Illinois
(Source)

First given on the 135th birthday of Thomas Paine. Collected in The Gods and Other Lectures (1876).

Webster, Daniel -- Speech (1820-12-22), “First Settlement of New England,” Plymouth, Massachusetts

Dave — Tue, 02 Dec 2025 17:32:34 +0000

At the moment when God in his mercy has blessed the Christian world with a universal peace, there is reason to fear, that, to the disgrace of the Christian name and character, new efforts are making for the extension of this [slave] trade by subjects and citizens of Christian states, in whose hearts there dwell no sentiments of humanity or of justice, and over whom neither the fear of God nor the fear of man exercises a control. In the sight of our law, the African slave-trader is a pirate and a felon; and in the sight of Heaven, an offender beyond the ordinary depth of human guilt.

Daniel Webster (1782-1852) American statesman, lawyer, orator
Speech (1820-12-22), “First Settlement of New England,” Plymouth, Massachusetts
(Source)

On the bicentennial of the Pilgrims' landing in the New World.

Douglass, Frederick -- Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Appendix (1845)

Dave — Sun, 19 Oct 2025 17:51:28 +0000

I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ: I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land. Indeed, I can see no reason, but the most deceitful one, for calling the religion of this land Christianity. I look upon it as the climax of all misnomers, the boldest of all frauds, and the grossest of all libels.

Frederick Douglass (1817-1895) American abolitionist, orator, writer
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Appendix (1845)
(Source)

Cicero, Marcus Tullius -- Philippics [Philippicae; Antonian Orations], No. 3, ch. 14 / sec. 35 (2.14/3.35.1) (44-12-20 BC) [tr. Yonge (1903)]

Dave — Thu, 16 Oct 2025 16:15:15 +0000

You know the insolence of Antonius; you know his friends, you know his whole household. To be slaves to lustful, wanton, debauched, profligate, drunken gamblers, is the extremity of misery combined with the extremity of infamy.

[Nostis insolentiam Antoni, nostis amicos, nostis totam domum. libidinosis, petulantibus, impuris, impudicis, aleatoribus, ebriis servire, ea summa miseria est summo dedecore coniuncta.]

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Philippics [Philippicae; Antonian Orations], No. 3, ch. 14 / sec. 35 (2.14/3.35.1) (44-12-20 BC) [tr. Yonge (1903)]
(Source)

(Source (Latin)). Other translations:

You know Antonius' insolence, you know his friends, you know his whole household. Slavery under men lustful, wanton, foul, unchaste, gamblers and drunkards, this is the utmost misery allied with the utmost disgrace.
[tr. Ker (Loeb) (1926)]

You know Antonius' insolence, you know his friends, you now his whole retinue. To be slave to libertines, bullies, foul profligates, gamblers, drunkards, that is the ultimate misery joined with the ultimate in dishonour.
[tr. Manuwald (2007)]

Cicero, Marcus Tullius -- Philippics [Philippicae; Antonian Orations], No. 8, ch. 4 / sec. 12 (8.4/8.12) (43-02-03 BC) [tr. Ker (Loeb) (1926)]

Dave — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 16:28:54 +0000

What juster reason is there for the waging of war than to repel slavery? a condition in which, though your master may not be oppressive, yet it is a wretched thing he should have the power to be so if he will.

[Quae causa iustior est belli gerendi quam servitutis depulsio? in qua etiamsi not sit molestus dominus, tamen est miserrimum posse, se velit.]

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Philippics [Philippicae; Antonian Orations], No. 8, ch. 4 / sec. 12 (8.4/8.12) (43-02-03 BC) [tr. Ker (Loeb) (1926)]
(Source)

(Source (Latin)). Other translations:

What juster cause is there for waging war than the wish to repel slavery? in which, even if one's master be not tyrannical, yet it is a most miserable thing that he should be able to be so if he chooses.
[tr. Yonge (1903)]

Is there any better reason for waging war than to ward off slavery? In slavery, even if the master is not oppressive, the sorry thing still is that he can be if he wishes.
[tr. Manuwald (2007)]

What cause for war is more just than the repulsion of slavery? even under a benign master, it is miserable that he has the power, if he wants to use it.
[tr. Wiseman]

Lincoln, Abraham -- Speech (1858-09-11), Edwardsville, Illinois

Dave — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 22:23:59 +0000

Familiarize yourselves with the chains of bondage, and you are preparing your own limbs to wear them. Accustomed to trample on the rights of those around you, you have lost the genius of your own independence, and become the fit subjects of the first cunning tyrant who rises.

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1858-09-11), Edwardsville, Illinois
(Source)

As reported in the Alton Weekly Courier (1858-09-16).

Cicero, Marcus Tullius -- Philippics [Philippicae; Antonian Orations], No. 3, ch. 14 / sec. 36 (3.14/3.36) (44-12-20 BC) [tr. @sentantiq (2019)]

Dave — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 15:22:17 +0000

Nothing is more detestable than disgrace, nothing more shameful than slavery. We have been born for glory and freedom — let us either hold on to these things or die with dignity.

[Nihil est detestabilius dedecore, nihil foedius servitute. Ad decus et ad libertatem nati sumus; aut haec teneamus aut cum dignitate moriamur.]

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Philippics [Philippicae; Antonian Orations], No. 3, ch. 14 / sec. 36 (3.14/3.36) (44-12-20 BC) [tr. @sentantiq (2019)]
(Source)

(Source (Latin)). Other translations:

Nothing is more detestable than disgrace, nothing fouler than servitude. It is to glory and to liberty we were born; let us either hold fast to these or die with dignity.
[tr. Yonge (1903)]

There is nothing more detestable than disgrace; nothing more shameful than slavery. We have been born to glory and to liberty; let us either preserve them or die with dignity.
[tr. Ker (Loeb) (1926)]

Nothing is more abominable than disgrace, nothing is uglier than slavery. We were born for honor and freedom: let us either retain them or die with dignity.
[tr. Manuwald (2007)]

Euripides -- Hecuba [Hekabe; Ἑκάβη], l. 1293ff (c. 424 BC) [tr. Sheppard (1924)]

Dave — Tue, 22 Jul 2025 16:28:46 +0000

CHORUS: Come away, dear ones, come away.
To the camp, to the place of the ships, to the sea,
To the strange new life of slavery,
For all are the slaves of Destiny.

[ΧΟΡΟΣ: ἴτε πρὸς λιμένας σκηνάς τε, φίλαι,
τῶν δεσποσύνων πειρασόμεναι
μόχθων: στερρὰ γὰρ ἀνάγκη.]

Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Hecuba [Hekabe; Ἑκάβη], l. 1293ff (c. 424 BC) [tr. Sheppard (1924)]
(Source)

Closing lines, as the Trojan women captives (including Hecuba) are taken back to Greece.

(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:

To the haven go,
And to the tents, my friends, t'endure the toils
Our lords impose: for thus harsh fate enjoins.
[tr. Wodhull (1809)]

Come, my friends, to the harbor, and the tents, to undergo the tasks imposed by our masters. For necessity is relentless.
[tr. Edwards (1826)]

To the tents, O friends, to the haven fare;
The yoke of thraldom our necks must bear.
Fate knows not pity, fate will not spare.
[tr. Way (Loeb) (1894)]

Away to the harbour and the tents, my friends, to prove the toils of slavery! for such is fate's relentless hest.
[tr. Coleridge (1938)]

File to the tents,
file to the harbor.
There we embark
on life as slaves.
Necessity is harsh.
Fate has no reprieve.
[tr. Arrowsmith (1958)]

Go to the shoreline and our masters' tents. Find out from them what work we're forced to do. We've got no choice. No choice at all. We're slaves.
[tr. Harrison (2005)]

Go, my friends! Go to the ports and to the tents, my friends! Go and taste the hardship of slavery!
[tr. Theodoridis (2007)]

-- To the harbor now. -- To the tents.
-- It is time to embark. -- It is time to board
our new lives as slaves. -- But the taste
is bitter. -- Necessity is hard.
[tr. Karden/Street (2011)]

Billings, Josh -- Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1870-12 (1870 ed.)

Dave — Thu, 05 Jun 2025 15:17:47 +0000

The chains ov slavery are none the lighter for being made ov gold.

[The chains of slavery are none the lighter for being made of gold.]

Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1870-12 (1870 ed.)
(Source)

In Everybody's Friend, Or; Josh Billing's Encyclopedia and Proverbial Philosophy of Wit and Humor, ch. 156 "Affurisms: Embers on the Harth" (1874), this is rendered:

The chains ov slavery are none the less gauling for being made ov gold.

[The chains of slavery are none the less galling for being made of gold.]

Lincoln, Abraham -- Speech (1858-07-17), Springfield, Illinois

Dave — Tue, 20 May 2025 22:05:13 +0000

My declarations upon this subject of negro slavery may be misrepresented, but cannot be misunderstood. I have said that I do not understand the Declaration to mean that all men were created equal in all respects. They are not our equal in color; but I suppose that it does mean to declare that all men are equal in some respects; they are equal in their right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Certainly the negro is not our equal in color, perhaps not in many other respects; still, in the right to put into his mouth the bread that his own hands have earned, he is the equal of every other man, white or black. In pointing out that more has been given you, you cannot be justified in taking away the little which has been given him. All I ask for the negro is that if you do not like him, let him alone. If God gave him but little, that little let him enjoy.

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1858-07-17), Springfield, Illinois
(Source)

Lincoln, Abraham -- Speech (1858-07-17), Springfield, Illinois

Dave — Sat, 10 May 2025 22:22:36 +0000

I adhere to the Declaration of Independence. If Judge Douglas and his friends are not willing to stand by it, let them come up and amend it. Let them make it read that all men are created equal except negroes. Let us have it decided whether the Declaration of Independence, in this blessed year of 1858, shall be thus amended. In his construction of the Declaration last year, he said it only meant that Americans in America were equal to Englishmen in England. Then, when I pointed out to him that by that rule he excludes the Germans, the Irish, the Portuguese, and all the other people who have come among us since the revolution, he reconstructs his construction. In his last speech he tells us it meant Europeans.
I press him a little further, and ask if it meant to include the Russians in Asia; or does he mean to exclude that vast population from the principles of our Declaration of Independence? I expect ere long he will introduce another amendment to his definition. He is not at all particular. He is satisfied with anything which does not endanger the nationalizing of negro slavery. It may draw white men down, but it must not lift negroes up.

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1858-07-17), Springfield, Illinois
(Source)

Lincoln, Abraham -- Speech (1858-10-15), Lincoln-Douglas Debate No. 7, Alton, Illinois

Dave — Tue, 22 Apr 2025 23:14:55 +0000

It is the eternal struggle between these two principles — right and wrong — throughout the world. They are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time, and will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity, and the other the divine right of kings. It is the same principle in whatever shape it develops itself. It is the same spirit that says, “You work and toil and earn bread, and I’ll eat it.” No matter in what shape it comes, whether from the mouth of a king who seeks to bestride the people of his own nation and live by the fruit of their labor, or from one race of men as an apology for enslaving another race, it is the same tyrannical principle.

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1858-10-15), Lincoln-Douglas Debate No. 7, Alton, Illinois
(Source)

Lincoln, Abraham -- Speech (1858-09-18), Lincoln-Douglas Debate No. 4, Charleston, Illinois

Dave — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 00:25:24 +0000

I will say, then, that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races; that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say, in addition to this, that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. And in as much as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race. I say upon this occasion I do not perceive that because the white man is to have the superior position the negro should be denied everything. I do not understand that because I do not want a negro woman for a slave I must necessarily want her for a wife. My understanding is that I can just let her alone.

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1858-09-18), Lincoln-Douglas Debate No. 4, Charleston, Illinois
(Source)

Answering accusations from Douglas and his supporters about Lincolns attitude toward Blacks and the threat of "amalgamation." A clear indicator that at this point in his life, despite abhorring the institution of chattel slavery and the enslavement of Blacks in the South (for humanitarian, social, and economic reasons), Lincoln still held racist (if somewhat less malevolent) views of Blacks and the the possibility of racial harmony and integration.

Colton, Charles Caleb -- Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 1, § 226 (1820)

Dave — Fri, 07 Feb 2025 21:42:08 +0000

The liberty we obtain by being members of civilized society, would be licentiousness, if it allowed us to harm others, and slavery, if it prevented us from benefiting ourselves. True liberty, therefore, allows each individual to do all the good he can to himself, without injuring his neighbor.

Charles Caleb "C. C." Colton (1780-1832) English cleric, writer, aphorist
Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 1, § 226 (1820)
(Source)

Ingersoll, Robert Green -- Speech (1876-07-04), “Centennial Oration [The Declaration of Independence],” Peoria, Illinois

Dave — Fri, 07 Feb 2025 20:01:24 +0000

It is not possible for the human imagination to conceive of the horrors of slavery. It has left no possible crime uncommitted, no possible cruelty unperpetrated. It has been practiced and defended by all nations in some form. It has been upheld by all religions. It has been defended by nearly every pulpit. From the profits derived from the slave trade churches have been built, cathedrals reared and priests paid. Slavery has been blessed by bishop, by cardinal, and by pope. It has received the sanction of statesmen, of kings, and of queens. It has been defended by the throne, the pulpit and the bench. Monarchs have shared in the profits. Clergymen have taken their part of the spoils, reciting passages of Scripture in its defence at the same time, and judges have taken their portion in the name of equity and law.

Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Speech (1876-07-04), “Centennial Oration [The Declaration of Independence],” Peoria, Illinois
(Source)

Lincoln, Abraham -- Speech (1856-05-29), Republican State Convention of Illinois, Bloomington [ed. Whitney]

Dave — Wed, 05 Feb 2025 22:29:58 +0000

I will not say that we may not sooner or later be compelled to meet force by force; but the time has not yet come, and, if we are true to ourselves, may never come. Do not mistake that the ballot is stronger than the bullet. Therefore let the legions of slavery use bullets; but let us wait patiently till November and fire ballots at them in return; and by that peaceful policy I believe we shall ultimately win.

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1856-05-29), Republican State Convention of Illinois, Bloomington [ed. Whitney]
(Source)

The speech is based on contemporaneous notes by William C. Whitney, who was present at the speech. The speech was reconstructed from the notes in 1896; Whitney said that it was not literal, but followed Lincoln's arguments and used many of his sentences.

Usually given in a shorter form: "The ballot is stronger than the bullet."

Lincoln used the juxtaposition of ballots and bullets a number of times (e.g., 1858, 1863). This is the earliest of the instances I can find.

Smith, Sydney -- Edinburgh Review, No. 65, Article 3 (1820-01)

Dave — Tue, 17 Sep 2024 22:30:33 +0000

In the four quarters of the globe, who reads an American book? Or goes to an American play? or looks at an American picture or statue? What does the world yet owe to American physicians or surgeons? What new substances have their chemists discovered? Or what old ones have they advanced? What new constellations have been discovered by the telescopes of Americans? Who drinks out of American glasses? Or eats from American plates? Or wears American coats or gowns? or sleeps in American blankets? Finally, under which of the old tyrannical governments of Europe is every sixth man a slave, whom his fellow-creatures may buy and sell and torture?

Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
Edinburgh Review, No. 65, Article 3 (1820-01)
(Source)

Review of Adam Seybert, Statistical Annals of the United States of America (1818).

Bierce, Ambrose -- “Disobedience,” The Cynic’s Word Book (1906)

Dave — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 23:41:54 +0000

DISOBEDIENCE, n. The silver lining to the cloud of servitude.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
“Disobedience,” The Cynic’s Word Book (1906)
(Source)

Included in The Devil's Dictionary (1911). Originally published in the "Devil's Dictionary" column in the San Francisco Wasp (1882-04-02).

Gracián, Baltasar -- The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 186 (1647) [Flesher ed. (1685)]

Dave — Mon, 11 Mar 2024 16:07:16 +0000

To discern faults, though they be in fashion: Though Vice be clothed in cloth of gold, yet a good man will still know it. It is to no purpose for it to be apparelled in gold, it can never so well disguise it self but that it will be perceived to be of iron. It would cloak it self with the nobility of its Adherents, but it is never stript of its baseness, nor the misery of its slavery.

[Conocer los defectos, por más autorizados que estén. No desconozca la entereza el vicio, aunque se revista de brocado; corónase tal vez de oro, pero no por eso puede disimular el yerro. No pierde la esclavitud de su vileza aunque se desmienta con la nobleza del sujeto.]

Baltasar Gracián y Morales (1601-1658) Spanish Jesuit priest, writer, philosopher
The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 186 (1647) [Flesher ed. (1685)]
(Source)

(Source (Spanish)). Alternate translations:

Recognise Faults, however high placed. Integrity cannot mistake vice even when clothed in brocade or perchance crowned with gold, but will not be able to hide its character for all that. Slavery does not lose its vileness, however it vaunt the nobility of its lord and master.
[tr. Jacobs (1892)]

Know what is evil, however much worshiped it may be. Let the man of intelligence not fail to recognize it, even if clothed in brocade, or crowned with gold, because it cannot thereby hide its bane, -- slavery does not lose its infamy, however noble the master.
[tr. Fischer (1937)]

Know when something is a defect, even if it looks like the opposite. Honesty should be able to recognize vice even when it dresses in brocade. Sometimes it wears a crown of gold, but even then it cannot hide its iron. Slavery is just as vile when disguised by high position.
[tr. Maurer (1992)]

Hand, Learned -- “A Pledge of Allegiance,” speech, Central Park, New York City (1945-05-20)

Dave — Wed, 28 Feb 2024 21:01:18 +0000

For ourselves and for the present, we are safe; our immediate peril is past. But for how long are we safe; and how far have we removed our peril? If our nation could not itself exist half slave and half free, are we sure that it can exist in a world half slave and half free? Is the same conflict less irrepressible when world wide than it was eighty years ago when it was only nation wide? Right knows no boundaries, and justice no frontiers; the brotherhood of man is not a domestic institution.

Learned Hand (1872-1961) American jurist
“A Pledge of Allegiance,” speech, Central Park, New York City (1945-05-20)
(Source)

His second "I Am an American Day" address. Collected in The Spirit of Liberty (1953).

Child, Lydia Maria -- Speech, Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society 25th Anniversary Conference (1857)

Dave — Tue, 23 May 2023 19:08:40 +0000

The United States is not a beacon, not a light of freedom! She is a warning, rather than an example to the world!

Lydia Maria Child (1802-1880) American abolitionist, activist, journalist, suffragist
Speech, Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society 25th Anniversary Conference (1857)
(Source)

On slavery in the US, two months before the Dredd Scott decision.

Almost always elided as "The United States ... is a warning, rather than example to the world."

Montesquieu -- Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 15, ch. 1 (1748)

Dave — Tue, 04 Apr 2023 22:30:58 +0000

Slavery is not good in itself: it is neither useful to the master nor to the slave, because the slave can do nothing from virtuous motives; nor to the master, because he contracts amongst his slaves all sorts of bad habits — he becomes haughty, passionate, obdurate, vindictive, voluptuous, and cruel.

[Il n’est pas bon par sa nature; il n’est utile ni au maître ni à l’esclave: à celui-ci, parce qu’il ne peut rien faire par vertu; à celui-là, parce qu’il contracte avec ses esclaves toutes sortes de mauvaises habitudes, qu’il s’accoutume insensiblement à manquer à toutes les vertus morales, qu’il devient fier, prompt, dur, colère, voluptueux, cruel.]

Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 15, ch. 1 (1748)

Common translation used by English and American abolitionists (e.g., 1812). (Source (French)). Other translations:

The state of slavery is in its own nature bad. It is neither useful to the master nor to the slave; not to the slave, because he can do nothing through a motive of virtue; not to the master, because by having an unlimited authority over his slaves, he insensibly accustoms himself to the want of all moral virtues, and from thence grows fierce, hasty, severe, choleric, voluptuous, and cruel.
[tr. Nugent (1758 ed.)]

[Slavery] is not good by its nature; it is useful neither to the master nor to the slave: not to the slave, because he can do nothing from virtue; not to the master, because he contracts all sorts of bad habits from his slaves, because he imperceptibly grows accustomed to failing in all the moral virtues, because he grows proud, curt, harsh, angry, voluptuous, and cruel.
[tr. Cohler/Miller/Stone (1989)]

[Slavery] is not good by its nature; it is useful neither to the master nor to the slave: to the slave, because he can do nothing out of virtue; to the master, because he contracts all sorts of bad habits with his slaves, because he accustoms himself little by little to failing in all the moral virtues, and because he becomes proud, impetuous, mean, contentious, sensuous, and cruel.
[tr. Stewart (2018)]

Montesquieu -- Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 15, ch. 5 (15.5) (1748)

Dave — Wed, 29 Mar 2023 22:19:27 +0000

We must not allow Negroes to be men, lest we ourselves should be suspected of not being Christians.

Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 15, ch. 5 (15.5) (1748)

In a satirical set of justifications for slavery of Africans (an institution Montesquieu generally condemned).

This form of the phrase was commonly used by American abolitionists, e.g., used as an epigram in Lydia Maria Child, An Appeal in Favor of That Class of Americans Called Africans, ch. 6 (1836).

French original text:

Il est impossible que nous supposions que ces gens-là soient des hommes, parce que, si nous les supposions des hommes, on commencerait à croire que nous ne sommes pas nous-mêmes chrétiens.

Alternate translations:

It is impossible for us to suppose these creatures to be men, because allowing them to be men, a suspicion would follow, that we ourselves are not Christians.
[tr. Nugent (1758 ed.)]

It is impossible for us to assume that these people are men because if we assumed they were men one would begin to believe that we ourselves were not Christians.
[tr. Cohler/Miller/Stone (1989)]

King, Martin Luther -- “The Three Evils,” Keynote Speech, National Conference for New Politics, Chicago (31 Aug 1967)

Dave — Tue, 07 Mar 2023 21:26:39 +0000

Again we have deluded ourselves into believing the myth that Capitalism grew and prospered out of the Protestant ethic of hard work and sacrifice. The fact is that Capitalism was built on the exploitation and suffering of black slaves, and continues to thrive on the exploitation of the poor, both black and white, both here and abroad.

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
“The Three Evils,” Keynote Speech, National Conference for New Politics, Chicago (31 Aug 1967)
(Source)

Child, Lydia Maria -- An Appeal on Behalf of That Class of Americans Called Africans, ch. 6 (1833)

Dave — Wed, 01 Mar 2023 15:53:12 +0000

We first debase the nature of man by making him a slave, and then very coolly tell him that he must always remain a slave because he does not know how to use freedom. We first crush people to the earth, and then claim the right of trampling on them forever, because they are prostrate. Truly, human selfishness never invented a rule, which worked so charmingly both ways!

Lydia Maria Child (1802-1880) American abolitionist, activist, journalist, suffragist
An Appeal on Behalf of That Class of Americans Called Africans, ch. 6 (1833)
(Source)

Banneker, Benjamin -- Letter (1791-08-19) to Thomas Jefferson

Dave — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 00:11:32 +0000

This Sir, was a time in which you clearly saw into the injustice of a State of Slavery, and in which you had just apprehensions of the horrors of its condition, it was now Sir, that your abhorrence thereof was so excited, that you publickly held forth this true and invaluable doctrine, which is worthy to be recorded and remember’d in all Succeeding ages. “We hold these truths to be Self evident, that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happyness.”

Here Sir, was a time in which your tender feelings for your selves had engaged you thus to declare, you were then impressed with proper ideas of the great valuation of liberty, and the free possession of those blessings to which you were entitled by nature; but Sir how pitiable is it to reflect, that altho you were so fully convinced of the benevolence of the Father of mankind, and of his equal and impartial distribution of those rights and privileges which he had conferred upon them, that you should at the Same time counteract his mercies, in detaining by fraud and violence so numerous a part of my brethren under groaning captivity and cruel oppression, that you should at the Same time be found guilty of that most criminal act, which you professedly detested in others, with respect to yourselves.

Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806) American naturalist, surveyor, almanac author, mathematician
Letter (1791-08-19) to Thomas Jefferson
(Source)

See Jefferson.

Washington, Booker T. -- Speech, Republican Club, New York City (12 Feb 1909)

Dave — Fri, 18 Nov 2022 16:39:13 +0000

In any country, regardless of what its laws say, wherever people act upon the idea that the disadvantage of one man is the good of another, there slavery exists. Wherever, in any country the whole people feel that the happiness of all is dependent upon the happiness of the weakest, there freedom exists.

Booker T. Washington (1856-1915) American educator, writer
Speech, Republican Club, New York City (12 Feb 1909)
(Source)

Morris, William -- Signs of Change, ch. 6 (1888)

Dave — Wed, 16 Nov 2022 15:28:58 +0000

Worthy work carries with it the hope of pleasure in rest, the hope of the pleasure in our using what it makes, and the hope of pleasure in our daily creative skill. All other work but this is worthless; it is slaves’ work — mere toiling to live, that we may live to toil.

William Morris (1834-1896) British textile designer, writer, socialist activist
Signs of Change, ch. 6 (1888)
(Source)

Lincoln, Abraham -- Note (1854-07-01?), On Slavery (fragment)

Dave — Tue, 22 Feb 2022 23:46:41 +0000

If A. can prove, however conclusively, that he may, of right, enslave B. — why may not B. snatch the same argument, and prove equally, that he may enslave A?
You say A. is white, and B. is black. It is color, then; the lighter having the right to enslave the darker? Take care. By this rule, you are to be slave to the first man you meet, with a fairer skin than your own.
You do not mean color exactly? — You mean the whites are intellectually the superior of blacks, and, therefore, have the right to enslave them? Take care again. By this rule, you are to be slave to the first man you meet, with an intellect superior to your own.
But, say you, it is a question of interest; and, if you can make it your interest, you have the right to enslave another. Very well. And if he can make it his interest, he has the right to enslave you.

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Note (1854-07-01?), On Slavery (fragment)
(Source)

The note itself is not dated. The fragment is included in The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Vol. 2 (1953) [ed. Roy P. Basler]. The printed version of the book gives "July 1, 1854?" as the date, as being the date assigned by Nicolay and Hay; the U. of Michigan online version of that work gives "April 1, 1854?" with no explaination. The editors of the Collected Works do note that it likely was written 1858-1859. The Abraham Lincoln Digital Library version suggests the note post-dates the Kansas-Nebraska Act (May 1854), which brought Lincoln back into politics, campaigning for a Whig congressional candidate in the Fall of 1854.

Ingersoll, Robert Green -- Speech (1887-05) to the Jury, Trial of C. B. Reynolds for Blasphemy, Morristown, New Jersey

Dave — Wed, 13 Oct 2021 20:40:46 +0000

What is blasphemy? I will give you a definition; I will give you my thought upon this subject. What is real blasphemy?
To live on the unpaid labor of other men — that is blasphemy.
To enslave your fellow-man, to put chains upon his body — that is blasphemy.
To enslave the minds of men, to put manacles upon the brain, padlocks upon the lips — that is blasphemy.
To deny what you believe to be true, to admit to be true what you believe to be a lie — that is blasphemy.
To strike the weak and unprotected, in order that you may gain the applause of the ignorant and superstitious mob — that is blasphemy.
To persecute the intelligent few, at the command of the ignorant many — that is blasphemy.
To forge chains, to build dungeons, for your honest fellow-men — that is blasphemy.
To pollute the souls of children with the dogma of eternal pain — that is blasphemy.
To violate your conscience — that is blasphemy.
The jury that gives an unjust verdict, and the judge who pronounces an unjust sentence, are blasphemers.
The man who bows to public opinion against his better judgment and against his honest conviction, is a blasphemer.

Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Speech (1887-05) to the Jury, Trial of C. B. Reynolds for Blasphemy, Morristown, New Jersey
(Source)

Adams, John Quincy -- Journal (3 Mar 1820)

Dave — Mon, 09 Aug 2021 21:04:05 +0000

It is among the evils of slavery that it taints the very sources of moral principle. It establishes false estimates of virtue and vice: for what can be more false and heartless than this doctrine which makes the first and holiest rights of humanity to depend upon the color of the skin?

John Quincy Adams (1767-1848) US President (1825-29)
Journal (3 Mar 1820)
(Source)

Discussing the debate over the Missouri Compromise.

Butler, Octavia -- Kindred, ch. 4, sec. 6 (1979)

Dave — Thu, 13 May 2021 21:38:22 +0000

His father wasn’t the monster he could have been with the power he held over his slaves. He wasn’t a monster at all. Just an ordinary man who sometimes did the monstrous things his society said were legal and proper.

Octavia Butler (1947-2006) American writer
Kindred, ch. 4, sec. 6 (1979)
(Source)

Angelou, Maya -- “Facing Evil,” Interview by Bill Moyers (1982)

Dave — Fri, 30 Apr 2021 19:57:53 +0000

Throughout our nervous history, we have constructed pyramidic towers of evil, ofttimes in the name of good. Our greed, fear and lasciviousness have enabled us to murder our poets, who are ourselves, to castigate our priests, who are ourselves. The lists of our subversions of the good stretch from before recorded history to this moment. We drop our eyes at the mention of the bloody, torturous Inquisition. Our shoulders sag at the thoughts of African slaves lying spoon-fashion in the filthy hatches of slave-ships, and the subsequent auction blocks upon which were built great fortunes in our country. We turn our heads in bitter shame at the remembrance of Dachau and the other gas ovens, where millions of ourselves were murdered by millions of ourselves. As soon as we are reminded of our actions, more often than not we spend incredible energy trying to forget what we’ve just been reminded of.

Maya Angelou (1928-2014) American poet, memoirist, activist [b. Marguerite Ann Johnson]
“Facing Evil,” Interview by Bill Moyers (1982)
(Source)

Stephens, Alexander -- “Cornerstone Speech,” Savannah (21 Mar 1861)

Dave — Tue, 13 Apr 2021 21:27:30 +0000

The new constitution has put at rest, forever, all the agitating questions relating to our peculiar institution — African slavery as it exists amongst us — the proper status of the negro in our form of civilization. This was the immediate cause of the late rupture and present revolution. […] The prevailing ideas entertained by [Jefferson] and most of the leading statesmen at the time of the formation of the old constitution, were that the enslavement of the African was in violation of the laws of nature; that it was wrong in principle, socially, morally, and politically. It was an evil they knew not well how to deal with, but the general opinion of the men of that day was that, somehow or other in the order of Providence, the institution would be evanescent and pass away. […] Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests upon the great truth, that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery — subordination to the superior race — is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth.

Alexander Stephens (1812-1883) American lawyer, politician, Confederate States Vice-President (1861-65)
“Cornerstone Speech,” Savannah (21 Mar 1861)
(Source)

On the foundation of the government of the Confederate States of America.

Jay, John -- Letter to J. C. Dongan (27 Feb 1792)

Dave — Wed, 07 Oct 2020 15:01:43 +0000

Every man of every color and description has a natural right to freedom.

John Jay (1745-1829) American statesman, diplomat, abolitionist, politician, Chief Justice (1789-1795)
Letter to J. C. Dongan (27 Feb 1792)
(Source)

Jay, John -- Letter to Rev. Doctor Price (27 Sep 1785)

Dave — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 20:29:20 +0000

That men should pray and fight for their own freedom, and yet keep others in slavery, is certainly acting a very inconsistent, as well as unjust and, perhaps, impious part, but the history of mankind is filled with instances of human improprieties.

John Jay (1745-1829) American statesman, diplomat, abolitionist, politician, Chief Justice (1789-1795)
Letter to Rev. Doctor Price (27 Sep 1785)
(Source)

Garfield, James A. -- “Suffrage and Safety,” speech, Ravenna, Ohio (4 Jul 1865)

Dave — Fri, 04 Sep 2020 16:16:42 +0000

Have we done it? Have we given freedom to the black man? What is freedom? Is it mere negation? Is it the bare privilege of not being chained, of not being bought and sold, branded and scourged? If this is all, then freedom is a bitter mockery, a cruel delusion, and it may well be questioned whether slavery were not better.

James A. Garfield (1831-1881) US President (1881), lawyer, lay preacher, educator
“Suffrage and Safety,” speech, Ravenna, Ohio (4 Jul 1865)
(Source)

Garfield, James A. -- “Suffrage and Safety,” speech, Ravenna, Ohio (4 Jul 1865)

Dave — Fri, 28 Aug 2020 16:13:48 +0000

In the great crisis of the war, God brought us face to face with the mighty truth, that we must lose our own freedom or grant it to the slave. In the extremity of our distress, we called upon the black man to help us save the Republic; and, amid the very thunders of battle, we made a covenant with him, sealed both with his blood and with ours, and witnessed by Jehovah, that, when the nation was redeemed, he should be free, and share with us its glories and its blessings. The Omniscient Witness will appear in judgment against us if we do not fulfill that covenant.

James A. Garfield (1831-1881) US President (1881), lawyer, lay preacher, educator
“Suffrage and Safety,” speech, Ravenna, Ohio (4 Jul 1865)
(Source)

Spenser, Edmund -- The Faerie Queene. Book 3, Canto 9, st. 8 (1589-96)

Dave — Mon, 13 Jul 2020 15:10:28 +0000

For sure a foole I doe him firmely hold,
That loves his fetters, though they were of gold.

Edmund Spenser (c. 1552–1599) English poet
The Faerie Queene. Book 3, Canto 9, st. 8 (1589-96)
(Source)

Zapata, Emiliano -- (Attributed)

Dave — Mon, 29 Jun 2020 23:14:38 +0000

I’d rather die on my feet, than live on my knees.

[Prefiero morir de pie que vivir de rodillas.]

Emiliano Zapata 1879-1919) Mexican revolutionary, reformer [Emiliano Zapata Salazar]
(Attributed)

Often misattributed to Che Guevara, José Martí, and other revolutionaries. Popularized by "La Pasionaria" Dolores Ibárruri, during her speeches and broadcasts in the Spanish Civil War. More discussion here.

Alternate versions/translations:

"I'd prefer to die standing, than to live always on my knees! [¡Prefiero morir de pie que vivir siempre arrodillado!]"
"Men of the South! It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees!"
"I would rather die standing than live on my knees!"
"It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees!"
"I prefer to die standing than to live forever kneeling."
"Prefer death on your feet to living on your knees."

Lincoln, Abraham -- Interview (1859-09-17?) with David R. Locke, Columbus, Ohio

Dave — Fri, 03 Apr 2020 18:32:29 +0000

Slavery is doomed, and that within a few years. Even Judge Douglas admits it to be an evil, and an evil can’t stand discussion. In discussing it we have taught a great many thousands of people to hate it who had never given it a thought before. What kills the skunk is the publicity it gives itself. What a skunk wants to do is to keep snug under the barn in daytime, when men are around with shotguns.

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Interview (1859-09-17?) with David R. Locke, Columbus, Ohio
(Source)

After his speech in Columbus (1859-09-16), discussing the effect of drawing attention to the problem of slavery through his speech-making. Recounted by Locke in A. T. Rice (ed.), Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln by Distinguished Men of His Time, ch. 25 (1883).

Lewis, C.S. -- Essay (1943-08-27), “Equality,” The Spectator

Dave — Wed, 12 Feb 2020 20:09:29 +0000

I am a democrat because I believe in the Fall of Man. I think most people are democrats for the opposite reason. A great deal of democratic enthusiasm descends from the ideas of people like Rousseau, who believed in democracy because they thought mankind so wise and good that everyone deserved a share in government. The danger of defending democracy on those grounds is that they’re not true. And whenever their weakness is exposed, the people who prefer tyranny make capital out of the exposure. I find that they’re not true without looking further than myself. I don’t deserve a share in governing a hen-roost, much less a nation. Nor do most people — all the people who believe advertisements, and think in catchwords and spread rumours. The real reason for democracy is just the reverse. Mankind is so fallen that no man can be trusted with unchecked power over his fellows. Aristotle said that some people were only fit to be slaves. I do not contradict him. But I reject slavery because I see no men fit to be masters.

C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) English writer, literary scholar, lay theologian [Clive Staples Lewis]
Essay (1943-08-27), “Equality,” The Spectator
(Source)

Reprinted in Present Concerns (1986). See Lincoln.

Douglass, Frederick -- Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, ch. 6 [Mr. Auld] (1845)

Dave — Mon, 10 Feb 2020 22:09:38 +0000

“If you give a nigger an inch, he will take an ell. A nigger should know nothing but to obey his master — to do as he is told to do. Learning will spoil the best nigger in the world. Now, if you teach that nigger how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master. As to himself, it could do him no good, but a great deal of harm. It would make him discontented and unhappy.”

Frederick Douglass (1817-1895) American abolitionist, orator, writer
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, ch. 6 [Mr. Auld] (1845)
(Source)

Quoting his master, Auld, chastising Mrs. Auld for teaching Douglass to read. Frequently paraphrased down to "Knowledge makes a man unfit to be a slave."

Trumbo, Dalton -- Spartacus (1960) [novel by Howard Fast]

Dave — Tue, 04 Sep 2018 23:11:32 +0000

SPARTACUS: When a free man dies, he loses the pleasure of life. A slave loses his pain. Death is the only freedom a slave knows. That’s why he’s not afraid of it. That’s why we’ll win.

Dalton Trumbo (1905-1976) American screenwriter and novelist [James Dalton Trumbo]
Spartacus (1960) [novel by Howard Fast]

King, Martin Luther -- Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? (1967)

Dave — Fri, 17 Nov 2017 18:42:10 +0000

Many of the ugly pages of American history have been obscured and forgotten. A society is always eager to cover misdeeds with a cloak of forgetfulness, but no society can fully repress an ugly past when the ravages persist into the present. America owes a debt of justice which it has only begun to pay. If it loses the will to finish or slackens in its determination, history will recall its crimes and the country that would be great will lack the most indispensable element of greatness — justice.

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? (1967)
(Source)

Bierce, Ambrose -- “Marriage,” The Devil’s Dictionary (1911)

Dave — Wed, 01 Nov 2017 16:11:46 +0000

MARRIAGE, n. The state or condition of a community consisting of a master, a mistress and two slaves, making in all, two.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
“Marriage,” The Devil’s Dictionary (1911)
(Source)

Originally published in the "Cynic's Word Book" column in the New York American (1904-08-13), and the "Cynic's Dictionary" column in the San Francisco Examiner (1904-11-15).

Lovelace, Richard -- “To Althea, from Prison,” l. 25 (1649)

Dave — Tue, 20 Jun 2017 01:22:44 +0000

Stone walls do not a prison make,
Nor iron bars a cage.

Richard Lovelace (1617-1657) English poet
“To Althea, from Prison,” l. 25 (1649)
(Source)

Mencken, H. L. -- “What I Believe,” sec. 6, Forum and Century (Sep 1930)

Dave — Mon, 22 May 2017 16:21:49 +0000

I believe it is better to tell the truth than to lie. I believe that it is better to be free than to be a slave. And I believe that it is better to know than to be ignorant.

H. L. Mencken (1880-1956) American writer and journalist [Henry Lewis Mencken]
“What I Believe,” sec. 6, Forum and Century (Sep 1930)
(Source)

Twain, Mark -- “The Character of Man” (23 Jan 1906), in The Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol. 1 (2010)

Dave — Tue, 18 Apr 2017 00:29:10 +0000

Look at the tyranny of party — at what is called party allegiance, party loyalty — a snare invented by designing men for selfish purposes — and which turns voters into chattels, slaves, rabbits, and all the while their masters, and they themselves are shouting rubbish about liberty, independence, freedom of opinion, freedom of speech, honestly unconscious of the fantastic contradiction; and forgetting or ignoring that their fathers and the churches shouted the same blasphemies a generation earlier when they were closing their doors against the hunted slave, beating his handful of humane defenders with Bible texts and billies, and pocketing the insults and licking the shoes of his Southern Master.

Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
“The Character of Man” (23 Jan 1906), in The Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol. 1 (2010)

Lincoln, Abraham -- Speech (1854-10-16), “In Reply to Senator Douglas,” Peoria, Illinois

Dave — Wed, 29 Mar 2017 19:37:38 +0000

This declared indifference, but as I must think, covert real zeal for the spread of slavery, I cannot but hate. I hate it because of the monstrous injustice of slavery itself. I hate it because it deprives our Republican example of its just influence in the world — enables the enemies of free institutions, with plausibility, to taunt us as hypocrites — causes the real friends of freedom to doubt our sincerity, and especially because it forces so many really good men amongst ourselves into an open war with the very fundamental principles of civil liberty — criticizing the Declaration of Independence, and insisting that there is no right principle of action but self-interest.

Adams, John Quincy -- Diary (1826-10-30)

Dave — Tue, 08 Nov 2016 05:13:12 +0000

Who but shall learn that freedom is the prize
Man still is bound to rescue or maintain;
That nature’s God commands the slave to rise,
And on the oppressor’s head to break the chain.
Roll, years of promise, rapidly roll round,
Till not a slave shall on this earth be found.

John Quincy Adams (1767-1848) US President (1825-29)
Diary (1826-10-30)
(Source)

Sonnet written on the birthday of his father, John Adams, six months after his death.

Adams, John Quincy -- Journal (11 Dec 1838)

Dave — Tue, 01 Nov 2016 01:58:06 +0000

The conflict between the principle of liberty and the fact of slavery is coming gradually to an issue. Slavery has now the power, and falls into convulsions at the approach of freedom. That the fall of slavery is predetermined in the counsels of Omnipotence I cannot doubt; it is a part of the great moral improvement in the condition of man, attested by all the records of history. But the conflict will be terrible, and the progress of improvement perhaps retrograde before its final progress to consummation.

John Quincy Adams (1767-1848) US President (1825-29)
Journal (11 Dec 1838)

Adams, John Quincy -- Speech to “The colored people of Pittsburge, Pennsylvania” (1843)

Dave — Tue, 11 Oct 2016 03:05:21 +0000

We know the redemption must come. The time and the manner of its coming we know not: It may come in peace, or it may come in blood; but whether in peace or in blood, LET IT COME.

John Quincy Adams (1767-1848) US President (1825-29)
Speech to “The colored people of Pittsburge, Pennsylvania” (1843)

Representative Dellet of Alabama quoted the speech before the House of Representatives, then asked Adams, "though it cost the blood of thousands of white men?" Adams responded, "Though it cost the blood of millions of white men, let it come. Let justice be done, though the heavens fall."

Adams, John Quincy -- Journal (1820)

Dave — Mon, 26 Sep 2016 23:48:38 +0000

John Quincy Adams (1767-1848) US President (1825-29)
Journal (1820)

Douglass, Frederick -- (Attributed)

Dave — Mon, 07 Mar 2016 22:09:51 +0000

I prayed for freedom for twenty years, but received no answer until I prayed with my legs.

Frederick Douglass (1817-1895) American abolitionist, orator, writer
(Attributed)

Mentioned frequently as being part of his earlier speeches, but unsourced. Also found as "failed to see the slightest scintillation of an answer until I prayed with my legs."

Douglass, Frederick -- Speech, Moorfields, England (22 May 1846)

Dave — Tue, 18 Aug 2015 13:06:13 +0000

I expose slavery in this country, because to expose it is to kill it. Slavery is one of the monsters of darkness to whom the light of truth is death.

Frederick Douglass (1817-1895) American abolitionist, orator, writer
Speech, Moorfields, England (22 May 1846)
(Source)

Tolstoy, Leo -- The Kingdom of God Is Within You, ch. 6 (1893) [tr. Maude (1936)]

Dave — Thu, 18 Jun 2015 14:54:03 +0000

Slavery was contrary to all the moral principles advocated by Plato and Aristotle, yet neither of them saw this because to renounce slavery would have meant the collapse of the life they were living.

Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) Russian novelist and moral philosopher
The Kingdom of God Is Within You, ch. 6 (1893) [tr. Maude (1936)]

Heinlein, Robert A. -- Time Enough For Love [Lazarus Long] (1973)

Dave — Tue, 12 May 2015 11:59:38 +0000

If the human animal has any value at all, he is too valuable to be property. If he has an inner dignity, he is much too proud to own other men. I don’t give a damn how scrubbed and perfumed he may be, a slave owner is subhuman.

Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988) American writer
Time Enough For Love [Lazarus Long] (1973)

Carlin, George -- Show (1988-08-15), What Am I Doing in New Jersey?, Park Performing Arts Center, Union City, New Jersey (HBO)

Dave — Wed, 07 Jan 2015 14:51:07 +0000

And of course this country is founded on the double standard, that’s our history! We were founded on a very basic double standard: this country was founded by slave owners who wanted to be free. Am I right? A group of slave owners who wanted to be free! So they killed a lot of white English people, in order to continue owning their black African people, so they could wipe out of the rest of the red Indian people, and move west and steal the rest of the land from the brown Mexican people, giving them a place to take off and drop their nuclear weapons on the yellow Japanese people. You know what the motto of this country ought to be? “You give us a color, we’ll wipe it out!”

George Carlin (1937-2008) American comedian
Show (1988-08-15), What Am I Doing in New Jersey?, Park Performing Arts Center, Union City, New Jersey (HBO)
(Source)

(Source (Video); dialog verified)

Camus, Albert -- The Rebel (1951)

Dave — Mon, 08 Dec 2014 13:04:59 +0000

The slave begins by demanding justice and ends by wanting to wear a crown. He must dominate in his turn.

Albert Camus (1913-1960) Algerian-French novelist, essayist, playwright
The Rebel (1951)

Lincoln, Abraham -- Speech (1854-10-16), “In Reply to Senator Douglas,” Peoria, Illinois

Dave — Wed, 05 Nov 2014 13:46:47 +0000

Near eighty years ago we began by declaring that all men are created equal; but now from that beginning we have run down to the other declaration, that for some men to enslave others is a “sacred right of self-government.” These principles can not stand together. They are as opposite as God and mammon; and whoever holds to the one, must despise the other.

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1854-10-16), “In Reply to Senator Douglas,” Peoria, Illinois
(Source)

Speaking on the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act, which repealed the Missouri Compromise and allowed as "self-government" for residents of those two territories to decide locally whether to allow slavery there.

Lincoln is referencing both the Declaration of Independence and the Bible (Luke 16:13).

Jefferson, Thomas -- Document (1776-06), “Declaration of Independence,” original draft

Dave — Tue, 26 Aug 2014 12:16:04 +0000

He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating it’s most sacred rights of life & liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating & carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither. this piratical warfare, the opprobrium of infidel powers, is the warfare of the christian king of Great Britain. determined to keep open a market where MEN should be bought & sold, he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce and that this assemblage of horrors might want no fact of distinguished die, he is now exciting those very people to rise in arms among us, and to purchase that liberty of which he has deprived them, by murdering the people upon whom he also obtruded them; thus paying off former crimes committed against the liberties of one people, with crimes which he urges them to commit against the lives of another.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
Document (1776-06), “Declaration of Independence,” original draft
(Source)

This anti-slavery clause was included in the submission to the Continental Congress. It was removed from the Declaration at the behest of the delegation from South Carolina, as a requirement for their vote.

Garrison, William Lloyd -- The Liberator, #1 (1 Jan 1831)

Dave — Thu, 10 Jul 2014 12:58:32 +0000

I am aware that many object to the severity of my language, but is there not cause for severity? I will be as harsh as truth, and as uncompromising as justice. On this subject, I do not wish to think, or speak, or write in moderation. No! No! Tell a man whose house is on fire, to give a moderate alarm; tell him to moderately rescue his wife from the hands of the ravisher; tell the mother to gradually extricate her babe from the fire into which it has fallen — but urge me not to use moderation in a cause like the present. I am in earnest — I will not equivocate — I will not excuse — I will not retreat a single inch; and I will be heard.

William Lloyd Garrison (1805-1879) American abolitionist, journalist, suffragist, social reformer
The Liberator, #1 (1 Jan 1831)

On slavery.

Spencer, Herbert -- Letter to Sir Robert Giffin (17 May 1901)

Dave — Thu, 17 Apr 2014 12:21:45 +0000

Those who enslave other peoples enslave themselves.

Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) English philosopher, naturalist
Letter to Sir Robert Giffin (17 May 1901)

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques -- The Social Contract, 1.1 (1762) [tr. Cole (1950)]

Dave — Thu, 10 Apr 2014 16:07:43 +0000

Man was born free; and everywhere he is in chains. One thinks himself the master of others, and still remains a greater slave than they.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) French philosopher and writer
The Social Contract, 1.1 (1762) [tr. Cole (1950)]

Proudhon, Pierre-Joseph -- Of Justice in the Revolution and the Church [De la justice dans la révolution et dans l’Eglise] (1858)

Dave — Thu, 03 Apr 2014 12:20:06 +0000

Would you deliver people into bondage? Persuade them to despise one another, destroy their mutual respect.

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809-1865) French politician, economist, philospher, anarchist
Of Justice in the Revolution and the Church [De la justice dans la révolution et dans l’Eglise] (1858)

Pound, Ezra -- “Gists,” Impact: Essays on Ignorance and the Decline of American Civilization, ed. Noel Stock (1960)

Dave — Thu, 27 Mar 2014 14:50:38 +0000

A slave is one who waits for someone else to free him.

Ezra Pound (1885-1972) American expatriate poet, critic, intellectual
“Gists,” Impact: Essays on Ignorance and the Decline of American Civilization, ed. Noel Stock (1960)

Lincoln, Abraham -- Letter (1864-04-04) to Albert G. Hodges

Dave — Thu, 20 Mar 2014 12:12:52 +0000

I am naturally anti-slavery. If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong.

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Letter (1864-04-04) to Albert G. Hodges
(Source)

Recounting what he had said the previous day at the White House to newspaper publisher Hodges, Governor Thomas Bramlette, and US Senator Archibald Dixon, all of Kentucky.

Lincoln, Abraham -- Speech (1854-04-01), “Fragment on Slavery”

Dave — Thu, 13 Mar 2014 12:36:12 +0000

Although volume upon volume is written to prove slavery a very good thing, we never hear of the man who wishes to take the good of it, by being a slave himself.

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1854-04-01), “Fragment on Slavery”
(Source)

This speech fragment was given this date by Nicolay and Hay, though alternatives have been suggested.

Stowe, Harriet Beecher -- Uncle Tom’s Cabin, ch. 29 “The Unprotected” (1862)

Dave — Wed, 12 Mar 2014 12:45:52 +0000

We hear often of the distress of the negro servants, on the loss of a kind master; and with good reason, for no creature on God’s earth is left more utterly unprotected and desolate than the slave in these circumstances. The child who has lost a father has still the protection of friends, and of the law; he is something, and can do something, — has acknowledged rights and position; the slave has none. The law regards him, in every respect, as devoid of rights as a bale of merchandise. The only possible acknowledgment of any of the longings and wants of a human and immortal creature, which are given to him, comes to him through the sovereign and irresponsible will of his master; and when that master is stricken down, nothing remains.

Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) American author
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, ch. 29 “The Unprotected” (1862)

Stowe, Harriet Beecher -- Uncle Tom’s Cabin, ch. 1 “In Which the Reader Is Introduced to a Man of Humanity” (1862)

Dave — Wed, 05 Mar 2014 13:44:17 +0000

“It don’t look well, now, for a feller to be praisin’ himself; but I say it jest because it’s the truth. I believe I’m reckoned to bring in about the finest droves of niggers that is brought in, — at least, I’ve been told so; if I have once, I reckon I have a hundred times, — all in good case, — fat and likely, and I lose as few as any man in the business. And I lays it all to my management, sir; and humanity, sir, I may say, is the great pillar of my management.”

Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) American author
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, ch. 1 “In Which the Reader Is Introduced to a Man of Humanity” (1862)

Stowe, Harriet Beecher -- The Minister’s Wooing, ch. 1 “Pre-Railroad Times” (1859)

Dave — Wed, 19 Feb 2014 13:01:39 +0000

George’s first voyage was on a slaver, and he wished himself dead many a time before it was over, — and ever after would talk like a man beside himself, if the subject was named. He declared that the gold made in it was distilled from human blood, from mothers’ tears, from the agonies and dying groans of gasping, suffocating men and women, and that it would sear and blister the soul of him that touched it; in short, he talked as whole-souled, unpractical fellows are apt to talk about what respectable people sometimes do. Nobody had ever instructed him that a slaveship, with a procession of expectant sharks in its wake, is a missionary institution, by which closely. packed heathens are brought over to enjoy the light of the Gospel.

Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) American author
The Minister’s Wooing, ch. 1 “Pre-Railroad Times” (1859)

Stowe, Harriet Beecher -- Letter to Lord Denman (20 Jan 1853)

Dave — Wed, 05 Feb 2014 13:59:20 +0000

I wrote what I did because as a woman, as a mother I was oppressed and broken-hearted, with the sorrows and injustice I saw, because as a Christian I felt the dishonor to Christianity — because as a lover of my country I trembled at the coming day of wrath. It is no merit in the sorrowful that they weep, or to the oppressed and smothering that they gasp and struggle, not to me, that I must speak for the oppressed — who cannot speak for themselves.

Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) American author
Letter to Lord Denman (20 Jan 1853)

On Uncle Tom's Cabin.

Stowe, Harriet Beecher -- Uncle Tom’s Cabin, ch. 20 “Topsy” (1852)

Dave — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 00:41:25 +0000

Whipping and abuse are like laudanum; you have to double the dose as the sensibilities decline.

Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) American author
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, ch. 20 “Topsy” (1852)
(Source)

Jefferson, Thomas -- Letter (1786-06-22) to Jean Nicholas Démeunier

Dave — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 13:13:14 +0000

What a stupendous, what an incomprehensible machine is man! who can endure toil, famine, stripes, imprisonment & death itself in vindication of his own liberty, and the next moment be deaf to all those motives whose power supported him thro’ his trial, and inflict on his fellow men a bondage, one hour of which is fraught with more misery than ages of that which he rose in rebellion to oppose.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
Letter (1786-06-22) to Jean Nicholas Démeunier
(Source)

This was part of a response to a draft article on the United States ("Essai sur les États-Unis") being put together for the Encyclopédie Méthodique which Démeunier had passed by Jefferson for comment. Jefferson requested changes on a number of items, including a passage on a new Virginia slave law and the failure of some of the delegates to propose an amendment for the gradual emancipation of slaves (Jefferson had not attended the legislative session, being in France). This quotation appeared toward the end of that proposed revision.

In the end, Démeunier provided this French translation in his article:

L’homme est un être bien étonnant et bien incompréhensible! pour défendre sa liberté, il souffre la fatigue, la faim, les coups de fouet, la prison et la mort, et le moment d’après les nobles sentimens qui l’ont soutenu dans de cruelles épreuves, ne font plus d’impression sur lui, et il impose à d’autres hommes une servitude qui, dans la durée d’une heure, produit plus de peines et de douleur, que l’assujettissement contre lequel il a pris les armes, n’en eût produit dans des siecles.

Ingersoll, Robert Green -- Trial of C.B. Reynolds for blasphemy (May 1887)

Dave — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 14:13:12 +0000

Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Trial of C.B. Reynolds for blasphemy (May 1887)
(Source)

Augustine of Hippo -- Confessions, Book 8, ch. 5 / ¶ 10 (8.5.10) (c. AD 398) [tr. Pine-Coffin (1961)]

Dave — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 12:22:45 +0000

The enemy held my will in his power and from it he had made a chain and shackled me. My will was perverse and lust had grown from it, and when I gave in to lust habit was born, and when I did not resist the habit it became a necessity. These were the links which together formed what I have called my chain, and it held me fast in the duress of servitude.

[Velle meum tenebat inimicus et inde mihi catenam fecerat et constrinxerat me. Quippe ex voluntate perversa facta est libido, et dum servitur libidini, facta est consuetudo, et dum consuetudini non resistitur, facta est necessitas. Quibus quasi ansulis sibimet innexis (unde catenam appellavi) tenebat me obstrictum dura servitus.]

Augustine of Hippo (354-430) Christian church father, philosopher, saint [b. Aurelius Augustinus]
Confessions, Book 8, ch. 5 / ¶ 10 (8.5.10) (c. AD 398) [tr. Pine-Coffin (1961)]
(Source)

Sometimes paraphrased "Habit, if not resisted, soon becomes necessity."

(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:

My will the enemy held, and thence had made a chain for me, and bound me. For of a forward will, was a lust made; and a lust served, became custom; and custom not resisted, became necessity. By which links, as it were, joined together (whence I called it a chain) a hard bondage held me enthralled.
[tr. Pusey (1838), and ed. Shedd (1860)]

My will was the enemy master of, and thence had made a chain for me and bound me. Because of a perverse will was lust made; and lust indulged in became custom; and custom not resisted became necessity. By which links, as it were, joined together (whence I term it a “chain”), did a hard bondage hold me enthralled.
[tr. Pilkington (1876)]

The enemy held my will , and with me made a chain for me and bound me. For from a perverse will, lust was made; and in obeying lust, habit was formed, and habit not resisted, became necessity. By which links, as it were, joined together -- therefore I call it a chain -- was I held shackled with a hard bondage.
[tr. Hutchings (1890)]

The enemy held fast my will, and had made of it a chain, and bound me tight therewith. For from a perverse will came lust, and the service of lust ended in habit, and acquiescence in habit produced necessity. These were the links of what I call my chain, and they held me bound in hard slavery.
[tr. Bigg (1897)]

The enemy held my will; and of it he made a chain and bound me. Because my will was perverse it changed to lust, and lust yielded to became habit, and habit not resisted became necessity. These were like links hanging one on another -- which is why I have called it a chain -- and their hard bondage held me bound hand and foot.
[tr. Sheed (1943)]

The enemy held fast my will, and had made of it a chain, and had bound me tight with it. For out of the perverse will came lust, and the service of lust ended in habit, and habit, not resisted, became necessity. By these links, as it were, forged together--which is why I called it “a chain”--a hard bondage held me in slavery.
[tr. Outler (1955)]

The enemy had control of my will, and out of it he fashioned a chain and fettered me with it. For in truth lust is made out of a perverse will, and when lust is served, it becomes habit, and when habit is not resisted, it becomes necessity. By such links, joined one to another, as it were -- for this reason I have called it a chain -- a harsh bondage held me fast.
[tr. Ryan (1960)]

The enemy held my will and made a chain out of it and bound me with it. From a perverse will came lust, and slavery to lust became a habit, and the habit, being constantly yielded to, became a necessity. These were like links, hanging each to each (which is why I called it a chain), and they held me fast in a hard slavery.
[tr. Warner (1963)]

My willingness the enemy held, and out of it had made me a chain and bound me. Of stubborn will ios a lust made. When a lust is served, a custom is made, and when a custom is not resisted a necessity is made. It was as though link was bound to link (hence what I called a chain) and hard bondage held me bound.
[tr. Blailock (1983)]

Stowe, Harriet Beecher -- Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Conclusion (1852)

Dave — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 13:27:13 +0000

Facts too shocking to be contemplated occasionally force their way to the public ear, and the comment that one often hears made on them is more shocking than the thing itself. It is said, “Very likely such cases may now and then occur, but they are no sample of general practice.” If the laws of New England were so arranged that a master could now and then torture an apprentice to death, would it be received with equal composure? Would it be said, “These cases are rare, and no samples of general practice”? This injustice is an inherent one in the slave system, — it cannot exist without it.

Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) American author
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Conclusion (1852)
(Source)

Stowe, Harriet Beecher -- Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Conclusion (1852)

Dave — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 14:01:42 +0000

Is man ever a creature to be trusted with wholly irresponsible power? And does not the slave system, by denying the slave all legal right of testimony, make every individual owner an irresponsible despot? Can anybody fall to make the inference what the practical result will be? If there is, as we admit, a public sentiment among you, men of honor, justice and humanity, is there not also another kind of public sentiment among the ruffian, the brutal and debased? And cannot the ruffian, the brutal, the debased, by slave law, own just as many slaves as the best and purest? Are the honorable, the just, the high-minded and compassionate, the majority anywhere in this world?

Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) American author
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Conclusion (1852)
(Source)

Johnson, Samuel -- Essay (1775), “Taxation No Tyranny”

Dave — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 17:13:13 +0000

How is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the drivers of negroes?

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1775), “Taxation No Tyranny”
(Source)

On American (especially Virginian) demands for Independence.

Hugo, Victor -- Letter (1862-10-18) to M. Daelli [tr. Wraxall (1862)

Dave — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 16:13:39 +0000

You are right, sir, when you tell me that Les Misérables is written for all nations. I do not know whether it will be read by all, but I wrote it for all. It is addressed to England as well as to Spain, to Italy as well as to France, to Germany as well as to Ireland, to Republics which have slaves as well as to Empires which have serfs. Social problems overstep frontiers. The sores of the human race, those great sores which cover the globe, do not halt at the red or blue lines traced upon the map.
In every place where man is ignorant and despairing, in every place where woman is sold for bread, wherever the child suffers for lack of the book which should instruct him and of the hearth which should warm him, the book of Les Misérables knocks at the door and says: “Open to me, I come for you.”

[Vous avez raison, monsieur, quand vous me dites que le livre les Misérables est écrit pour tous les peuples. Je ne sais s’il sera lu par tous, mais je l’ai écrit pour tous. Il s’adresse à l’Angleterre autant qu’à l’Espagne, à l’Italie autant qu’à la France, à l’Allemagne autant qu’à l’Irlande, aux républiques qui ont des esclaves aussi bien qu’aux empires qui ont des serfs. Les problèmes sociaux dépassent les frontières. Les plaies du genre humain, ces larges plaies qui couvrent le globe, ne s’arrêtent point aux lignes bleues ou rouges tracées sur la mappemonde.
Partout où l’homme ignore et désespère, partout où la femme se vend pour du pain, partout où l’enfant souffre faute d’un livre qui l’enseigne et d’un foyer qui le réchauffe, le livre les Misérables frappe à la porte et dit: Ouvrez-moi, je viens pour vous.]

Victor Hugo (1802-1885) French writer
Letter (1862-10-18) to M. Daelli [tr. Wraxall (1862)
(Source)

(Source (French)). Daeli was the publisher of the Italian translation of Les Misérables.

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Sr. -- Article (1860-09), “The Professor’s Story [Elsie Venner],” ch. 18, Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 6, No. 35

Dave — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 14:25:41 +0000

If a man has a genuine, sincere, hearty wish to get rid of his liberty, if he is really bent upon becoming a slave, nothing can stop him. And the temptation is to some natures a very great one.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894) American poet, essayist, scholar
Article (1860-09), “The Professor’s Story [Elsie Venner],” ch. 18, Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 6, No. 35
(Source)

Originally serialized as “The Professor’s Story,” but collected as the novel Elsie Venner, ch. 18 (1861).

Fuller, Thomas (1654) -- Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs (compiler), # 1304 (1732)

Dave — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 10:47:28 +0000

Do Business, but be not a Slave to it.

Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs (compiler), # 1304 (1732)
(Source)

See Franklin and also Fuller.

Ingersoll, Robert Green -- Interview, The Sunday Union, New Haven, Conn. (10 Apr 1881)

Dave — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 09:40:40 +0000

If a man really believes that God once upheld slavery; that he commanded soldiers to kill women and babes; that he believed in polygamy; that he persecuted for opinion’s sake; that he will punish forever, and that he hates an unbeliever, the effect in my judgment will be bad. It always has been bad. This belief built the dungeons of the Inquisition. This belief made the Puritan murder the Quaker.

Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Interview, The Sunday Union, New Haven, Conn. (10 Apr 1881)
(Source)

La Bruyere, Jean de -- The Characters [Les Caractères], ch. 8 “Of the Court [De la Cour],” § 70 (8.70) (1688) [tr. Van Laun (1885)]

Dave — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 19:53:30 +0000

A slave has but one master; an ambitious man has as many masters as there are people who may be useful in bettering his position.

[L’esclave n’a qu’un maître; l’ambitieux en a autant qu’il y a de gens utiles à sa fortune.]

Jean de La Bruyère (1645-1696) French essayist, moralist
The Characters [Les Caractères], ch. 8 “Of the Court [De la Cour],” § 70 (8.70) (1688) [tr. Van Laun (1885)]
(Source)

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

A Slave has but one Master, an ambitious Man a great many, all those who are useful to him in making his fortune.
[Bullord ed. (1696)]

A Slave has but one Master; an ambitious Man has as many as there are People useful to him in making his Fortune.
[Curll ed. (1713)]

A purchased Slave has but one Master: An ambitious Man must be a Slave to all who may conduce to his Aggrandizement.
[Browne ed. (1752)]

A slave has only one master; an ambitious man is enslaved to all those who may help to further his advancement.
[tr. Stewart (1970)]

Augustine of Hippo -- City of God [De Civitate Dei], Book 4, ch. 3 (4.3) (AD 412-416) [ed. Dods (1871)]

Dave — Fri, 30 May 2008 11:02:31 +0000

Therefore the good man, although he is a slave, is free; but the bad man, even if he reigns, is a slave, and that not of one man, but, what is far more grievous, of as many masters as he has vices.

[Proinde bonus etiamsi seruiat, liber est; malus autem etiamsi regnet, seruus est, nec unius hominis, sed, quod est grauius, tot dominorum, quot uitiorum.]

Augustine of Hippo (354-430) Christian church father, philosopher, saint [b. Aurelius Augustinus]
City of God [De Civitate Dei], Book 4, ch. 3 (4.3) (AD 412-416) [ed. Dods (1871)]
(Source)

See 2 Peter 2:19 "For people are slaves to whatever masters them." The idea of being a slave to vices was also a Stoic belief. Compare to La Bruyere.

(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:

And therefore he that is good is free though he be a slave, and he that is evil, a slave though he be a king. Nor is he slave to one man, but that which is worst of all, unto as many masters as he affects vices.
[tr. Healey (1610)]

Thus, a good man, though a slave, is free; but a wicked man, though a king, is a slave. For he serves, not one man alone, but, what is worse, as many masters as he as vices.
[tr. Zema/Walsh (1950)]

Hence even if a good man be a slave, he is free; whereas if a wicked man rule, he is a slave -- and a slave not to one man but, what is worse, to as many masters as he has vices.
[tr. Green (Loeb) (1963)]

The good man, though a slave, is free; the wicked, though he reigns, is a slave, and not the slave of a single man, but -- what is far worse -- the slave of as many masters as he has vices.
[tr. Bettenson (1972)]

Therefore the good man is free even if he is a slave, whereas the bad man is a slave even if he reigns: a slave, not to one man, but, what is worse, to as many masters as he has vices.
[tr. Dyson (1998)]

Thus the good person is free, even if a slave, and the evil person is enslaved, even if a ruler -- enslaved not to one master but, what is far worse, to as many masters as he has vices.
[tr. Babcock (2012)]

Schiller, Friedrich -- “The Word of the Faithful [Die Worte des Glaubens],” st. 2 (1797)

Dave — Thu, 29 May 2008 10:35:38 +0000

Man is created free, and is free,
Though he be born in chains.

Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805) German poet, playwright, critic [Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller]
“The Word of the Faithful [Die Worte des Glaubens],” st. 2 (1797)

Lincoln, Abraham -- Letter (1859-04-06) to Henry L. Pierce, et al.

Dave — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 10:28:51 +0000

This is a world of compensation; and he who would be no slave must consent to have no slave. Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves, and, under a just God, cannot long retain it.

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Letter (1859-04-06) to Henry L. Pierce, et al.
(Source)

The letter is quoted in Charles Sumner's Eulogy to Lincoln, printed in the City of Boston''s A Memorial of Abraham Lincoln, Late President of the United States (1865).

The letter was in response to an invitation from Boston for the celebration of Thomas Jefferson's birthday. Lincoln praised Jefferson, and warned against those who would "overthrow" the principles of freedom Jefferson wrote of so eloquently. Lincoln apparently saw no irony in this passage, even given Jefferson being a slave-holder.

Goethe, Johann von -- Elective Affinities [Die Wahlverwandtschaften], Part 2, ch. 5, “From Ottilie’s Journal [Aus Ottiliens Tagebuche]” (1809) [tr. Wenckstern (1853)]

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.

[Niemand ist mehr Sklave als der sich für frei hält ohne es zu sein.]

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) German poet, statesman, scientist
Elective Affinities [Die Wahlverwandtschaften], Part 2, ch. 5, “From Ottilie’s Journal [Aus Ottiliens Tagebuche]” (1809) [tr. Wenckstern (1853)]
(Source)

(Source (German)). Alternate translation:

No one is more a slave than the man who thinks himself free while he is not.
[Niles ed. (1872)]

No one is more a slave than he who thinks he is free without being so.
[tr. Hollingdale (1971)]

Publilius Syrus -- Sententiae [Moral Sayings]

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 19:00:00 +0000

Debt is the slavery of the free.

Publilius Syrus (d. 42 BC) Assyrian slave, writer, philosopher [less correctly Publius Syrus]
Sententiae [Moral Sayings]

Drummond, William -- Academical Questions, Preface (1805)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

He, who will not reason, is a bigot; he, who cannot, is a fool; and he, who dares not, is a slave.

William Drummond of Logie-Almond (1770-1828) Scottish classical scholar, philosopher, diplomat, politician
Academical Questions, Preface (1805)
(Source)

Sometimes misattributed to Byron.

Sallust -- Histories, 4.69.18

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

Few men desire liberty; most men wish only for a just master.

[Namque pauci libertatem, pars magna iustos dominos volunt.]

Sallust (c. 86-35 BC) Roman historian and politician [Gaius Sallustius Crispus]
Histories, 4.69.18

"Few men desire freedom, the greater part desire just masters."
"Only a few prefer liberty, the majority seek nothing more than fair masters."

Lincoln, Abraham -- Fragment (1858-08-01?), “Definition of Democracy”

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy.

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Fragment (1858-08-01?), “Definition of Democracy”
(Source)

The title of this writing fragment, in Lincoln's hand, is notional. It is sometimes referred to as "On Slavery and Democracy." The date is also conjectural, and the manuscript is not connected with any known speech or occasion. The scrap of paper this solitary paragraph is on was given to Mary Todd Lincoln by her friend, Myra Bradwell on Mary's release from the asylum. It was unsigned, but a signature clipped from another document was pasted below the text.

Lincoln, Abraham -- Speech (1854-10-16), “In Reply to Senator Douglas,” Peoria, Illinois

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

What I do say is that no man is good enough to govern another man without that other’s consent. I say this is the leading principle, the sheet-anchor of American republicanism. […] According to our ancient faith, the just powers of governments are derived from the consent of the governed. Now the relation of master and slave is pro tanto a total violation of this principle. The master not only governs the slave without his consent, but he governs him by a set of rules altogether different from those which he prescribes for himself. Allow all the governed an equal voice in the government, and that, and that only, is self-government.

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1854-10-16), “In Reply to Senator Douglas,” Peoria, Illinois
(Source)

Speaking on the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act, which repealed the Missouri Compromise and allowed as "self-government" for residents of those two territories to decide locally whether to allow slavery there.

In the ellipses, Lincoln quotes the beginning of the Declaration of Independence, through "deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."

Fuller, Thomas (1654) -- Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs (compiler), # 4103 (1732)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

Serving one’s own Passions is the greatest Slavery.

Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs (compiler), # 4103 (1732)
(Source)

Henry, Patrick -- Speech (1775-03-23), Second Virginia Convention

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!

Patrick Henry (1736-1799) American revolutionary and orator
Speech (1775-03-23), Second Virginia Convention
(Source)

See Cicero.

Lincoln, Abraham -- Speech (1865-03-17) to the 104th Indiana Regiment, Indianapolis

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

I have always thought that all men should be free; but if any should be slaves it should be first those who desire it for themselves, and secondly those who desire it for others. Whenever [I] hear any one arguing for slavery I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1865-03-17) to the 104th Indiana Regiment, Indianapolis
(Source)

Lincoln was speaking on reports that Confederate Army was drafting Black slaves to fight in their ranks. The above is the text from Lincolns autograph draft, and is most well known. The draft includes the words (scratched out) "any one arguing for slavery, even a preacher, I feel ...."

See also Lincoln (1854).

The following version was from newspaper reports the next day in the New York Herald and New York Tribune:

While I have often said that all men ought to be free, yet I would allow those colored persons to be slaves who want to be; and next to them those white persons who argue in favor of making other people slaves. (Applause.) I am in favor of giving an opportunity to such white men to try it on for themselves.

The "arguing for slavery" quote was mentioned in a speech by Jimmy Carter before the Indian Parliament (1978-01-02), in the context of those wealthy people who say that democracy is of no value to the poor.

Macaulay, Thomas Babington -- “John Milton,” Edinburgh Review (Aug 1825)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

Many politicians are in the habit of laying down as self-evident the proposition that no people ought to be free till they are fit to use their freedom. This maxim is worthy of the fool in the old story who resolved not to go into the water till he had learned to swim! If men are to wait for liberty till they become wise and good in slavery, they may indeed wait forever.

Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-1859) English writer and politician
“John Milton,” Edinburgh Review (Aug 1825)
(Source)

Cicero, Marcus Tullius -- Philippics [Philippicae; Antonian Orations], No. 2, ch. 44 / sec. 113 (2,44/2.113) (44-10-24 BC) [tr. King (1877)]

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

Peace indeed is both sweet in name and wholesome in reality; but there is all the difference in the world between peace and slavery. Peace is the calmness of freedom, slavery the worst of all evils, to be kept off at the cost not only of war, but even of life itself.

[Et nomen pacis dulce est et ipsa res salutaris; sed inter pacem et servitutem plurimum interest. Pax est tranquilla libertas, servitus postremum malorum omnium, non modo bello sed morte etiam repellendum.]

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Philippics [Philippicae; Antonian Orations], No. 2, ch. 44 / sec. 113 (2,44/2.113) (44-10-24 BC) [tr. King (1877)]
(Source)

(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:

And the name of peace is sweet, and the thing itself wholesome, but between peace and servitude the difference is great. Peace is tranquil liberty, servitude the last of all evils, one to be repelled, not only by war but even by death.
[tr. Ker (1926)]

The name of peace is sweet, the thing itself is most salutary. But between peace and slavery there is a wide difference. Peace is liberty in tranquility; slavery is the worst of all evils, -- to be repelled, if need be, not only by war, but even by death.
[tr. Yonge (1903)]

Peace indeed is both sweet in name and wholesome in reality; but there is all the difference between peace and slavery. Peace is the calmness of freedom, slavery the worst of all evils, to be kept off at the cost not only of war, but even of life itself.
[ed. Harbottle (1906)]

Even the name of peace is sweet, and peace itself a blessing; but there is all the difference in the world between peace and servitude. Peace is the quiet enjoyment of freedom, whereas servitude is the greatest of all evils, something to be resisted not just with war, but even with death.
[tr. Berry (2006)]

There is sweetness in the name of peace, and living in peace is beneficial, but there is a great difference between peace and slavery. Slavery is the worst of all evils and must be driven off by war -- or even by death.
[tr. McElduff (2011)]