“Pity me, and pardon me, O virtuous reader! You never knew what it is to be a slave; to be entirely unprotected by law or custom; to have the laws reduce you to the condition of a chattel, entirely subject to the will of another. You never exhausted your ingenuity in avoiding the snares, and eluding the power of a hated tyrant; you never shuddered at the sound of his footsteps, and trembled within hearing of his voice. I know I did wrong. No one can feel it more sensibly than I do. The painful and humiliating memory will haunt me to my dying day. Still, in looking back, calmly, on the events of my life, I feel that the slave woman ought not to be judged by the same standard as others.”
Quote by Harriet Ann Jacobs
Work
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
Browse quotes and source details for this work. more
Author
You May Also Like
Source: Hold On, But Don't Hold Still
Source: Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of Others
Source: The Tyranny of Virtue: Identity, the Academy, and the Hunt for Political Heresies
Source: Hold On, But Don't Hold Still
Source: Untamed
“I try not to judge people who face situations I’ve never faced”
Source: Waiting for Tom Hanks