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Slavery Quotes

Browse 2495 quotes about Slavery.

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Slavery Quotes

“Devote the mind to confusion and we know only too well, if we´re honest, that it will become a dark master of confusion, adept in its addictions, subtle and perversely supple in its slaveries. Devote it in meditation to the task of freeing itself from illusion, and we will find that, with time, patience, discipline, and the right training, our mind will begin to unknot itself and know its essential bliss and clarity.”

IfsKnowsMindWellsDarkPracticeMeditationHonestMastersDisciplineEssentialsTrainingIllusionTasksSlaveryAddictionConfusionClarityBlissSubtleMeditation PracticeAdeptSuppleTime Patience
Book:Glimpse After Glimpse: Daily Reflections on Living and Dying
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“A life that stood out as a gospel of self-forgetting service. He could have added fortune to fame but caring for neither he found happiness and honor in being helpful to the world. The centre of his world was the south where he was born in slavery some 79 years ago and where he did his work as a creative scientist.”

WorldYearsSelfScienceFoundBornForgetCreativeBirthHonorFameResearchYears AgoScientistSlaveryFortuneSouthCaringHelpfulCentreFound Happiness
Author:George Washington Carver
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“Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire recounts her decision to leave her husband after decades of struggle with his alcoholism. Several days later, he wrote to her: "The miracle occurred; I realized that in addition to all the suffering I had caused, I was not my own master. I decided this slavery must stop once and for all." And it did.”

SufferingMy OwnDecisionStruggleMastersHusbandDecidedMiracleSlaveryDecadesI RealizedAlcoholismDrunkennessDuchess
Author:Deborah Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire
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“Which passages of scripture should guide our public policy? Should we go with Leviticus, which suggests slavery is OK and that eating shellfish is an abomination? Or we could go with Deuteronomy, which suggests stoning your child if he strays from the faith?”

IfsShouldChildrenChristianityPolicyEatingOur ChildrenSlaveryGuidesScriptureYour ChildrenPassagesHusseinChristian FaithPublic PolicyMind BlowingAbominationChristianity And IslamSermon On The MountNation Of IslamMuslim FaithLeviticusShellfish
Book:Barack Obama: Speeches on the Road to the White House
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“If I were to meet the slave-traders who kidnapped me and even those who tortured me, I would kneel and kiss their hands, for if that did not happen, I would not be a Christian and Religious today... The Lord has loved me so much: we must love everyone... we must be compassionate!”

IfsLoveGodHandsHappensTodayChristianSufferingReligiousCompassionChristianityLordKissingCatholicSlaverySlaveSaintGod LoveTortureCompassionateTradersKidnappedLove EveryoneKneelingSlave Trade
Author:Josephine Bakhita
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“Slavery naturally tends to destroy all sense of justice and equity. It puffs up the mind with pride: teaches youth a habit of looking down upon their fellow creatures with contempt, esteeming them as dogs or devils, and imagining themselves beings of superior dignity and importance, to whom all are indebted. This banishes the idea, and unqualifies the mind for the practice of common justice.”

MindIdeasJusticeCommonTeachPracticeDogYouthPrideHabitCreaturesDevilDignityImportanceFellowsSlaverySuperiorsContemptEquityPuffLooking DownIndebted
Book:A Kentucky Protest Against Slavery: Slavery Inconsistent with Justice and Good Policy, Proved by a Speech, Delivered in the Convention, Held at Danville, Kentucky
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“From the standpoint of modern political science the slave holders were right in declaring that liberty can be given only to those who have political capacity enough to use it, and they were also right in maintaining that two greatly unequal races cannot exist side by side on terms of perfect equality.”

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Author:Charles Edward Merriam
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“There is no justification for the common claim that Christianity was responsible for the abolition of slavery. The Negro slave trade - a far more infamous practice than slavery in the ancient world - was initiated, carried on and defended by Christian men in Christian countries.”

MenWorldCountryChristianReligionCommonChristianityPracticeAtheismClaimsResponsibleSlaveryTradeSlaveAncientJustificationAbolitionInfamousSlave TradeAncient WorldAbolition Of Slavery
Author:Margaret E. Knight
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“It is only your self-identification with your mind that makes you happy or unhappy. Rebel against your slavery to your mind, see your bonds as self-created and break the chains of attachment and revulsion. Keep in mind your goal of freedom, until it dawns on you that you are already free, that freedom is not something in the distant future to be earned with painful efforts, but perennially one's own, to be used! Liberation is not an acquisition but a matter of courage, the courage to believe that you are free already and to act on it.”

MindBelieveSelfMatterWisdomSpiritualUsedGoalEffortBreakSlaveryPainfulUnhappyChainsLiberationDawnAttachmentRebelMake You HappyAcquisitionIdentificationRevulsion
Author:Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
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“And ain't I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man - when I could get it - and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain't I a woman?”

MenWellsLooksChildrenMotherJesusWomenGriefHeardArmsBearsSlaveryAfrican AmericanBlack PeopleCriedStrong WomenLook At MeBlack WomenBlack HistoryThirteenLashesBarnsWomen StrengthPloughingWhiplashMud Puddles
Author:Sojourner Truth
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“Life has been reduced to a series of long periods of boredom in the office punctuated by high-octane "experiences" which you can rack up on your list of things to do before you die. That's not really living: that is slavery with the occasional circus thrown in.”

LongHas BeensDiesPeriodsOfficeSlaverySeriesListsBoredThings To DoBoredomThrownCircusOccasionalRacksReally Living
Book:Brave Old World: A Month-by-Month Guide to Husbandry, or the Fine Art of Looking After Yourself
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“Grant began by expressing a hope that the war would soon be over, and Lee replied by stating that he had for some time been anxious to stop the further effusion of blood, and he trusted that everything would now be done to restore harmony and conciliate the people of the South. He said the emancipation of the Negroes would be no hindrance to the restoring of relations between the two sections of the country, as it would probably not be the desire of the majority of the Southern people to restore slavery then, even if the question were left open to them.”

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Author:Horace Porter
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“Patriotism in its simplest, clearest, and most indubitable meaning is nothing but an instrument for the attainment of the government's ambitious and mercenary aims, and a renunciation of human dignity, common sense, and conscience by the governed, and a slavish submission to those who hold power. That is what is really preached wherever patriotism is championed. Patriotism is slavery.”

HumansWarGovernmentCommonConscienceDignityAimSlaveryInstrumentsCommon SensePatriotismAnti WarAmbitiousSubmissionSimplestAttainmentHuman DignityRenunciationMercenary
Book:The kingdom of God: and peace essays
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“The right of voting for representatives is the primary right by which other rights are protected. To take away this right is to reduce a man to slavery, for slavery consists in being subject to the will of another, and he that has not a vote in the election of representatives is in this case.”

MenGovernmentPainCasesRightsSubjectsVoteElectionSlaveryPrimariesVotingProtectedRepresentatives
Book:THOMAS PAINE Ultimate Collection: Political Works, Philosophical Writings, Speeches, Letters & Biography (Including Common Sense, The Rights of Man & The Age of Reason): The American Crisis, The Constitution of 1795, Declaration of Rights, Agrarian Justice, The Republican Proclamation, Anti-Monarchal Essay, Letters to Thomas Jefferson and George Washington…
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“How can one be compelled to accept slavery? I simply refuse to do the master's bidding. He may torture me, break my bones to atoms and even kill me. He will then have my dead body, not my obedience. Ultimately, therefore, it is I who am the victor and not he, for he has failed in getting me to do what he wanted done.”

MayDoneBodyWantedAcceptingBreakStruggleMastersIndiaIndependenceSlaveryRefuseBonesDebateIndianObedienceTortureAtomsCompelledKill MeIndependence DayBiddingRepublic DayHappy Independence Day IndiaHappy Independence DayIndia Independence DayInspiring Independence DayIndian Independence Day
Book:The Essential Gandhi: An Anthology of His Writings on His Life, Work, and Ideas
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“The time has come for America to hear the truth about this tragic war. In international conflicts, the truth is hard to come by because most nations are deceived about themselves. Rationalizations and the incessant search for scapegoats are the psychological cataracts that blind us to our sins. But the day has passed for superficial patriotism. He who lives with untruth lives in spiritual slavery.”

WarHardAmericaSpiritualNationsSinTruth IsConflictSlaveryBlindInternationalPsychologicalPatriotismTragicTruth Of LifeSuperficialDeceivedUntruthIncessantScapegoat
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
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“[T]he hour is fast approaching, on which the Honor and Success of this army, and the safety of our bleeding Country depend. Remember officers and Soldiers, that you are Freemen, fighting for the blessings of Liberty - that slavery will be your portion, and that of your posterity, if you do not acquit yourselves like men.”

IfsMenCountryRememberFightingHoursLibertyRevolutionDependsHonorBlessingArmySafetySlaverySoldierOfficersPortionsPosterityBleedingAmerican RevolutionFreeman
Book:Maxims of Washington: Political, Social, Moral, and Religious
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“I wish most anxiously to see my much loved America - it is the Country from whence all reformations must originally spring - I despair of seeing an Abolition of the infernal trafic in Negroes - we must push that matter further on your side the water - I wish that a few well instructed Negroes could be sent among their Brethren in Bondage, for until they are enabled to take their own part nothing will be done.”

WellsCountryMatterDoneAmericaWishSidesWaterSeeingDespairSpringSlaveryBondageReformationYour SideBrethrenAbolition
Book:Thomas Paine: Collected Writings: Common Sense / The American Crisis / Rights of: (Library of America #76)
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“People who make war in order to escape slavery may possibly win....This will doubtless bring death and suffering to thousands....But people who tamely allow slavery to be imposed on them without resorting to a defensive war are inevitably doomed to years of death and suffering-and far more of each than any war would bring to them....The army doesn't exist that can annihilate men in their own land-not if they love it sufficiently.”

PeopleIfsMenYearsMayWarSufferingOrderWinningLandArmySlaveryAntiwarDoomed
Author:Kenneth Roberts
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“The middle of 'America's Women' is about the Civil War, and how women, black and white, confronted slavery and abolition. As in every other period of crisis, the rules of sexual decorum were suspended due to emergency.”

WarAmericaBlackWhiteMiddlePeriodsCrisisSlaveryDuesCivil WarBlack And WhiteEmergenciesAbolitionSuspendedDecorum
Book:America's Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines
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“The division of the United States into federations of equal force was decided long before the Civil War by the high financial powers of Europe. These bankers were afraid that the United States, if they remained in one block and as one nation, would attain economic and financial independence, which would upset their financial domination over the world. The voice of the Rothschilds prevailed... Therefore they sent their emissaries into the field to exploit the question of slavery and to open an abyss between the two sections of the Union.”

IfsWorldLongTwoWarStatesForceNationsVoiceUnitedUnited StatesEconomicFieldsEqualEuropeDecidedIndependenceSlaveryUnionsFinancialBlockUpsetCivil WarDivisionSectionsAbyssDominationExploitsBankersNew World OrderFederationFinancial Independence
Author:Otto von Bismarck
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“I am obliged to confess that I do not regard the abolition of slavery as a means of warding off the struggle of the two races in the Southern states. The Negroes may long remain slaves without complaining; but if they are once raised to the level of freemen, they will soon revolt at being deprived of almost all their civil rights; and as they cannot become the equals of the whites, they will speedily show themselves as enemies.”

IfsMayMeanLongTwoWarStatesShowsLevelsRaceEnemyStruggleRightsRacismRegardSlaverySlaveRaisedComplainingCivil RightsSouthernDeprivedObligedRevoltAbolitionFreemanAbolition Of Slavery
Book:Democracy in America
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“I have simplified my politics into an utter detestation of all existing governments; and, as it is the shortest and most agreeable and summary feeling imaginable, the first moment of an universal republic would convert me into an advocate for single and uncontradicted despotism. The fact is, riches are power, and poverty is slavery all over the earth, and one sort of establishment is no better, nor worse, for a people than another.”

PeopleFirstsMomentsFactsFeelingsGovernmentEarthPoliticsPovertyPoliticianUniversalSlaveryRichesRepublicEstablishmentDespotismSummary
Book:Delphi Complete Works of Lord Byron (Illustrated)
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