Quotations

«It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.»

«A battle lost or won is easily described, understood, and appreciated, but the moral growth of a great nation requires reflection, as well as observation, to appreciate it.»

«No nation can now shut itself up from the surrounding world, and trot round in the same old path of its fathers without interference. The time was when such could be done. Long established customs of hurtful character could formerly fence themselves in, and do their evil work with social impunity. Knowledge was then confined and enjoyed by the privileged few, and the multitude walked on in mental darkness. But a change has now come over the affairs of mankind. Walled cities and empires have become unfashionable. ... Intelligence is penetrating the darkest corners of the globe. Oceans no longer divide, but link nations together. ... What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?»

«I have observed this in my experience of slavery, that whenever my condition was improved, instead of increasing my contentment, it only increased my desire to be free, and set me to thinking of plans to gain my freedom. I have found that, to make a contented slave, it is necessary to make a thoughtless one.»

«America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future.»

«At a time like this, scorching iron, not convincing argument, is needed.»

«Fugitive slaves were rare then, and as a fugitive slave lecturer, I had the advantage of being the first one out.»

«I was broken in body, soul, and spirit. My natural elasticity was crushed, my intellect languished, the disposition to read departed; the cheerful spark that lingered about my eye died; the dark night of slavery closed upon me; and behold a man transformed into a brute!»