Quotessence
Home / Topics / Slavery Quotes

Slavery Quotes

Browse 2495 quotes about Slavery.

Related topics

SlaveMenPeopleIfsWarThinkingStatesHumansLibertyWorldBlackCivil WarMayShouldCountryWayChildrenAmericaFormKnowsLongHas BeensMastersBe A SlaveGovernmentMadeFreedomNationsPoliticalLawMeanStillsWhiteAbolitionRightsEvilWantInstitutionsKindLaborMoralYearsBelieveRaceTodayDoeGivingJusticeLooksMindFactsFirstsTwoAfrican AmericanFightingModernWholeEndsHandsSouthFeelsIdeasIndividualRacismSocialUnitedAbolition Of SlaveryConstitutionNeedsPersonsPrinciplesSelfChainsPropertyCausesCulturePovertyWishAnimalCenturyNamesUnionsWellsAmerican SlaveryBondageConditionsDesireDifferentIgnoranceIssuesOppressionSinBookDoneHumanityMightReasonRepublicanSegregationTogethermore

Slavery Quotes

“Humans call animals 'dumb'... after they robbed their entire own precious world. They are intelligent beings in their own right, and thoroughly self-sufficient... if not molested by humans. Yet, after millennia of slavery by selfish/callous humans they're made to look dumb! The 'superior species' in their situations would, too, appear 'dumb'.”

IfsWorldHumansLooksMadeSelfAnimalSituationIntelligentSlaverySpeciesSelfishSuperiorsDumbSufficientAnimal RightsSelf SufficientCallous
Author:Adela Popescu
Create image

“The confused mass of rules of conduct called law, which has been bequeathed to us by slavery, serfdom, feudalism, and royalty, has taken the place of those stone monsters, before whom human victims used to be immolated, and whom slavish savages dared not even touch lest they should be slain by the thunderbolts of heaven.”

ShouldHumansHas BeensLawUsedHeavenTakenMassStonesVictimSlaveryMonstersUsed To BeConfusedSavagesRoyaltyFeudalismThunderbolts
Book:Anarchism: A Collection of Revolutionary Writings
Create image

“What shall be said, then, of those who insist upon ignoring the question of slavery as not involved in this deadly feud, and maintain that the only issue is, the support of the government and the preservation of the Union? Surely, they are "fools and blind"; for it is slaveholders alone who have conspired to seize the one, and overturn the other. As long as the enslavement of a single human being is sanctioned in the land, the curse of God will rest upon it.”

HumansLongSaidGovernmentHuman BeingsSupportIssuesLandFoolInvolvedSlaveryBlindUnionsGods WillCursePreservationEnslavementFeudsSlaveholders
Author:William Lloyd Garrison
Create image

“There is an old joke about socialism as the synthesis of the highest achievements of the whole human history to date: from prehistoric societies it took primitivism; from the Ancient world it took slavery; from medieval society brutal domination; from capitalism exploitation; and from socialism the name.”

WorldHumansWholeNamesAchievementHighestJokesCapitalismSlaveryAncientSocialismBrutalExploitationDominationHuman HistoryMedievalSynthesisPrehistoricAncient WorldOld Jokes
Book:Revolution at the Gates: A Selection of Writings from February to October 1917
Create image

“It ought to concern every person, because it is a debasement of our common humanity. It ought to concern every community, because it tears at our social fabric. It ought to concern every business, because it distorts markets. It ought to concern every nation, because it endangers public health and fuels violence and organized crime. I’m talking about the injustice, the outrage, of human trafficking, which must be called by its true name - modern slavery.”

HumansPersonsHumanityNamesNationsSocialCommunityCommonTalkingViolenceModernCrimeTearsOughtConcernSlaveryInjusticeOrganizedFuelFabricOutragePublic HealthHuman TraffickingTraffickingOrganized CrimeCommon HumanityModern Slavery
Author:Barack Obama
Create image

“All too often, as we know from experience, people do not choose life; they do not accept the gospel of life, but let themselves be led by ideologies and ways of thinking that block life, that do not respect life, because they are dictated by selfishness, self-interest, profit, power and pleasure and not by love. ... As a result, the Living God is replaced by fleeting human idols, which offer the intoxication of a flash of freedom, but in the end bring new forms of slavery and death.”

PeopleThinkingKnowsWayHumansEndsSelfFormInterestPleasureResultsAcceptingOffersSlaveryProfitBlockIdeologySelfishnessIdolsFlashReplacedFleetingSelf InterestWay Of ThinkingIntoxicationChoose LifeRespect Life
Author:Pope Francis
Create image

“Human nature is full of riddles; . . . one of those riddles is: how is it that people who have been crushed by the sheer weight of slavery and cast to the bottom of the pit can nevertheless find strength in themselves to rise up and free themselves first in spirit and then in body while those who soar unhampered over the peaks of freedom suddenly lose the taste of freedom, lose the will to defend it, and, hopelessly confused and lost, almost begin to crave slavery?'”

PeopleFirstsHumansHas BeensBodySpiritLostLosesHuman NatureTasteWeightSlaveryBottomCastsConfusedSheerNeverthelessSoarCravePitsCrushedRiddleFinding StrengthLost And Confused
Author:Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Create image

“You point out that war is only a symptom of the whole horrid business of human behavior, and cannot be isolated. And that, even if we abolish war, we shall not abolish hate and greed. So might it have been argued about slave emancipation, that slavery was but one aspect of human disgustingness, and that to abolish it would not end the barbarity that causes it. But did the abolitionists therefore waste their breath? And do we waste ours now in protesting against war?”

IfsHumansHas BeensWarEndsWholeMightHateCausesWasteBehaviorAspectBreathsSlaverySlaveGreedIsolatedHuman BehaviorSymptomsEmancipationAbolishAbolitionistBarbarityAgainst War
Author:Rose Macaulay
Create image

“Every man that tried to destroy the Government, every man that shot at the holy flag in heaven, every man that starved our soldiers... every man that wanted to burn the negro, every one that wanted to scatter yellow fever in the North, every man that opposed human liberty, that regarded the auction-block as an altar and the howling of the bloodhound as the music of the Union, every man who wept over the corpse of slavery, that thought lashes on the naked back were a legal tender for labour performed, every one willing to rob a mother of her child - every solitary one was a Democrat.”

MenHumansChildrenWarGovernmentWantedMotherHeavenLibertyHistoryWillingHolyShotsSlaveryUnionsDemocratSoldierEvery ManNakedBlockCivil WarLabourYellowFlagsSolitaryCorpsesAltarsFeverAmerican Civil WarLashesAuctionsYellow FeverBloodhounds
Author:Robert Green Ingersoll
Create image

“Centuries from now our great-great-great-grandchildren will look back at us with amazement at how we could allow such a precious achievement of human culture as the telling of a story to be shattered into smithereens by commercials, the same amazement we feel today when we look at our ancestors for whom slavery, capital punishment, burning of witches, and the inquisition were acceptable everyday events.”

FeelsHumansLooksStoriesTodayFilmCultureCenturyEventsAchievementHollywoodSlaveryEverydayPunishmentBurningWitchAncestorAcceptableGrandchildrenShatteredAmazementCapital PunishmentInquisitionGreat Grandchildren
Author:Werner Herzog
Create image

“Communism worked honestly by officials devoid of human frailties and devoted to nothing but the good of its slaves, would have certain manifest material advantages as compared with a proletarian wage-system where millions live in semi-starvation, and many millions more in permanent dread thereof. But even if it were administered thus Communism would only produce its benefits through imposing slavery.”

IfsHumansWisdomCertainPoliticsMillionsEconomyProduceMaterialsBenefitsAdvantageSlaverySlaveHonestlyCommunismPermanentOfficialsLiberalismManifestDreadDevotedStarvationImposingFrailtyHuman Frailties
Author:Hilaire Belloc
Create image

“Although all men are born free, slavery has been the general lot of the human race. Ignorant--they have been cheated; asleep--they have been surprised; divided--the yoke has been forced upon them. But what is the lesson...? The people ought to be enlightened, to be awakened, to be united, that after establishing a government they should watch over it.... It is universally admitted that a well-instructed people alone can be permanently free.”

PeopleMenShouldHumansWellsHas BeensGovernmentBornUnitedRaceWatchesOughtLessonsSlaveryIgnorantHuman RaceEnlightenedOver ItDividedAwakenedCheatedYokeBorn Free
Author:James Madison
Create image

“A half century from now, our grandchildren are likely to look back at the era of mass employment in the market with the same sense of utter disbelief as we look upon slavery and serfdom in former times. The very idea that a human being's worth was measured almost exclusively by his or her productive output of goods and services and material wealth will seem primitive, even barbaric, and be regarded as a terrible loss of human value to our progeny living in a highly automated world where much of life is lived on the Collaborative Commons.”

WorldHumansLooksIdeasSeemsLife IsValuesWealthHuman BeingsLossHalfCenturyMaterialsTerribleMassSlaveryEmploymentFormerErasLook UpProductiveGoodsPrimitiveGrandchildrenDisbeliefOutputHuman ValuesBarbaricGoods And ServicesMaterial WealthProgeny
Book:The Zero Marginal Cost Society: The Internet of Things, the Collaborative Commons, and the Eclipse of Capitalism
Create image

“Ben Skinner's brains and courage take us into the belly of the beast and expose the ugly truth of modern slavery. Instead of sensation, A Crime So Monstrous gives us desperately needed insight and analysis. This is an important book, the first deep look into America's confused relationship with human trafficking and slavery today. Skinner's balanced dissection of our government's haphazard policies will be controversial, but it can also be the foundation for a new anti-slavery agenda, one that ends the political games being played with the lives of slaves.”

GivingFirstsHumansLooksImportantBookEndsGovernmentTodayAmericaPoliticalGamesBrainModernCrimePolicyNeededFoundationSlaverySlaveUglyInsightAnalysisBeastConfusedAgendasSensationsBalancedBellyControversialMonstrousHuman TraffickingTraffickingBeing PlayedHaphazardDissectionPolitical GamesAnti SlaverySkinnerModern SlaveryUgly TruthSlavery Today
Author:Kevin Bales
Create image

“Rigorously investigated and fearlessly reported, A Crime So Monstrous is a passionate and thorough examination of the appalling reality of human bondage in today's world. In his devastating narrative, Ben Skinner boldly casts light on the unthinkable, yet thriving, modern-day practice of slavery, exposing a global trade in human lives. The abuses detailed in these pages are repugnant, but there is hope to be found: by giving voice to the victims, Skinner helps restore their dignity and makes crucial strides toward closing this shameful chapter in history.”

WorldGivingHumansHelpingRealityLightTodayFoundVoicePracticeModernCrimePagesDignityAbuseVictimSlaveryTradeCastsPassionateNarrativeHuman LifeCrucialChaptersBondageClosingExaminationMonstrousShamefulThoroughStrideUnthinkableExposingModern DayThere Is HopeToday's WorldHuman BondageSkinnerGiving Voice
Author:William J. Clinton
Create image

“Slavery in America was perpetuated not merely by human badness but also by human blindness. ... Men convinced themselves that a system that was so economically profitable must be morally justifiable. ... Science was commandeered to prove the biological inferiority of the Negro. Even philosophical logic was manipulated [exemplified by] an Aristotlian syllogism: All men are made in the image of God; God, as everyone knows, is not a Negro; Therefore, the Negro is not a man.”

KnowsMenHumansMadeAmericaMoneyProveLogicPhilosophicalSlaveryConvincedBlindnessProfitableInferiorityGod ImageBadnessSlavery In America
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
Create image

“Emancipation should make it possible for woman to be human in the truest sense. Everything within her that craves assertion and activity should reach its fullest expression; all artificial barriers should be broken, and the road towards greater freedom cleared of every trace of centuries of submission and slavery.”

ShouldHumansGreaterCenturyExpressionBrokenActivitySlaveryBarriersArtificialWomens RightsSubmissionCraveAssertionTruestEmancipation
Book:Emma Goldman
Create image

“Human beings have rights, because they are moral beings: the rights of all men grow out of their moral nature; and as all men havethe same moral nature, they have essentially the same rights. These rights may be wrested from the slave, but they cannot be alienated: his title to himself is as perfect now, as is that of Lyman Beecher: it is stamped on his moral being, and is, like it, imperishable.”

MenHumansMayGrowsHuman BeingsPerfectMoralRightsMoralitySlaverySlaveHuman RightsTitles
Author:Angelina Grimke
Create image

“It is possible to see slavery and serfdom merely as extreme early forms of autocratic management, in which employees had no voice whatsoever in the work process and were viewed not as human beings but as alienated forms of individual wealth. Slavery, in this sense, did not die; it continues in modern dress in contemporary organizations wherever managers exercise autocratic power, unequal status, or arbitrary privileges, no matter how scientific the terminology or postmodern the image”

HumansMatterFormDiesIndividualProcessVoiceWealthHuman BeingsModernExerciseCapitalismOrganizationManagementDressesSlaveryPrivilegeExtremesContemporaryManagersEmployeeArbitraryPostmodernTerminology
Author:Kenneth Cloke
Create image

“One of the gladdest moments of human life, methinks, is the departure upon a distant journey into unknown lands. Shaking off with one mighty effort the fetters of habit, the leaden weight of routine, the cloak of many cares and the slavery of home, man feels once more happy.”

MenFeelsHumansMomentsHomeCareEffortJourneyLandInspireHabitTravelWeightSlaveryWanderAround The WorldHuman LifeRoutineTime TravelTraveledFunny TravelShakingTravellerDepartureCloaksGreat TravelInspiring TravelTravel AdventureAdventure And TravelFettersInspirational AdventureAdventure And LifeTravel Journey
Author:Richard Burton
Create image

“A civilization built on dualism and war within and between persons, one that puts its most creative minds and its best engineers to sadistic work building more and more destructive weapons, is no civilization at all. It needs a radical transformation from the heart outwards. It needs to outgrow and outlaw war just as in the last century it outlawed slavery. The human race has outgrown war, but it hardly knows it yet.”

KnowsNeedsMindHumansHeartPersonsWarLastsRaceCreativeCenturyBuildingCivilizationWeaponsBuiltTransformationSlaveryRadicalHuman RaceDestructiveEngineersDisarmamentOutlawCreative MindSadisticDualism
Author:Matthew Fox
Create image