Slavery Quotes
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Photography, sculpture, and painting were wielded as cultural weapons over the course of generations to substantiate the idea that black people were inherently subordinate beings; they were used to make slavery acceptable and to make black subjugation more palatable.
Clint Smith
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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.
Mahatma Gandhi
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Now we will throw these mediocre kitsch-mongers into slavery, and teach them to venerate the German spirit and to worship the German God.
Arnold Schoenberg
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We are the first to honour the memories of those who perished through slavery, by declaring August 1 as Emancipation Day.
Anthony Carmona
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Augustus gradually increased his powers, taking over those of the senate, the executives and the laws. The aristocracy received wealth and position in proportion to their willingness to accept slavery. The state had been transformed, and the old Roman character gone for ever. Equality among citizens was completely abandoned. All now waited on the imperial command.
Tacitus
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To us it seems incredible that the Greek philosophers should have scanned so deep into right and wrong and yet never noticed the immorality of slavery. Perhaps three thousand years from now it will seem equally incredible that we do not notice the immorality of our oppression of animals.
Brigid Brophy
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We have far more options for black Americans to tell stories outside of slavery, but whenever it comes to slavery, it's an uncomfortable subject. Why? Because it's the most unresolved subject in American history.
Aldis Hodge
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In proportion as slavery prevails in a State, the Government, however democratic in name, must be aristocratic in fact.
James Madison
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The topic of slavery is like an electric fence. Touch it and people will react.
Edward Ball
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There must be no compromise with slavery - none whatever. Nothing is gained, everything is lost, by subordinating principle to expedience.
William Lloyd Garrison
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Abusive language and swearing are a legacy of slavery, humiliation, and disrespect for human dignity, one’s own and that of other people.
Leon Trotsky
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It surprises people that there's actually a very large number of slaves in the world today-our best estimate is 27 million. And that is defining a slave in a very narrow way; we're not talking about sweatshop workers or people who are just poor, we're talking about people who are controlled by violence, who cannot walk away, who are being held against their will, who are being paid nothing.
Kevin Bales
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A freedom or pleasure that rests on someone else's slavery or misery cannot finally satisfy the self because it is a limitation or narrowing of the self, an admission of impotence, an offense against generosity and justice. Our freedom depends on other people's freedom, for our fates are inextricably interwoven with others', especially with those we love.
Peter Lamborn Wilson
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As for the South, it is enough to say that perhaps eighty per cent. of her armies were neither slave-holders, nor had the remotest interest in the institution. No other proof, however, is needed than the undeniable fact that at any period of the war from its beginning to near its close the South could have saved slavery by simply laying down its arms and returning to the Union.
John Brown Gordon
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I always wanted to do a movie that deals with America's horrific past with slavery, but the way I wanted to deal with it is - as opposed to doing it as a huge historical movie with a capital H - I thought it could be better if it was wrapped up in genre.
Quentin Tarantino
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Elimination of illiteracy is as serious an issue to our history as the abolition of slavery.
Maya Angelou
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I am confident that we will one day end the scourge of modern slavery, because I believe in those committed to this issue.
Barack Obama
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Dominus virtutum Has gathered together those that were in slavery, And before I existed He had perceived me. May I be ardently devoted to God! And before I desire the end of existence, And before the broken foam shall come upon my lips, And before I become connected with wooden boards, May there be festivals to my soul!
Taliesin
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Slavery has left behind it a spirit that still delights in human blood. Outrage, murder, and assassination are the inheritance of the freed men and women of the South. Neither our government nor our civilization seems able to stop the flow of blood. As in the time of slavery, the Church is silent.
Frederick Douglass
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I repeat the declaration made a year ago, that 'while I remain in my present position I shall not attempt to retract or modify the emancipation proclamation, nor shall I return to slavery any person who is free by the terms of that proclamation, or by any of the Acts of Congress.' If the people should, by whatever mode or means, make it an Executive duty to re-enslave such persons, another, and not I, must be their instrument to perform it.
Abraham Lincoln
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I'm so sick and tired of hearing about slavery. You think slavery didn't exist in Africa? Even Indian tribes.
David Duke
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It's crazy: the first black man to actually step foot in America came as a free man, as an explorer, with the Spaniards. That's something for me - as a black American, it gives me a little bit of pride because we were free and respected somewhere else before slavery became what it was.
Aldis Hodge