Quote#Freedom
Known to God only is the amount of human agony and suffering which…
Quote byWilliam Wells Brown · 1814–1884
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Clotel: or, The President's Daughter: a narrative of slave life in the United States (1853).
English (original)
Known to God only is the amount of human agony and suffering which sends its cry from the slave markets and Negro pens, unheard and unheeded by man up to his ear; mothers weeping for their children, breaking the night-silence with the shrieks of their breaking hearts. (Chapter V)
— William Wells Brown
More from William Wells Brown
every man must make equality for himself. No society, no government can make this equality. I do not expect the slave of the south to jump into equality; all I claim for him is, that he may be allowed to jump into liberty, and let him make …
All I demand for the black man is, that the white people shall take their heels off his neck, and let him have a chance to rise by his own efforts.
Black men, don’t be ashamed to show your colors, and to own them.
When will the Americans learn, that if they would encourage liberty in other countries, they must practice it at home?
An ignorant man will trust to luck for success; an educated man will make success. God helps those who help themselves. (from Chapter XLIX: The New Era)
With the growing population of slaves in the Southern States of America, there is a fearful increase of half whites, most of whose fathers are slaveowners and their mothers slaves. Society does not frown upon the man who sits with his …