“I knew of a man who was sent to the State Prison for twenty-five years. All these years he was always thinking of his home, and counting by years, months, and days, the time till he should be free, and see his family and friends once more.”

I would fight for my liberty so long as my strength lasted, and if the time came for me to go, the Lord would let them take me.

We saw the lightning and that was the guns and then we heard the thunder and that was the big guns; and then we heard the rain falling and that was the blood falling; and when we came to get in the crops, it was dead men that we reaped.

I had two sisters carried away in a chain-gang – one of them left two children. We were always uneasy.

In my dreams and visions, I seemed to see a line, and on the other side of that line were green fields, and lovely flowers, and beautiful white ladies, who stretched out their arms to me over the line, but I couldn’t reach them no-how. I always fell before I got to the line.

If you are tired, keep going. If you are scared, keep going. If you are hungry, keep going. If you want to taste freedom, keep going.

If you hear the dogs, keep going. If you see the torches in the woods, keep going. If there’s shouting after you, keep going. Don’t ever stop. Keep going. If you want a taste of freedom, keep going.

You’ll be free or die!

Farewell, ole Maser, don’t think hard of me, I’m going on to Canada, where all the slaves are free.

Every great dream begins with a dreamer.

It wasn’t me, it was the Lord! I always told Him, ‘I trust to you. I don’t know where to go or what to do, but I expect You to lead me,’ and He always did.

I can’t die but once.

I said to the Lord, I’m going to hold steady on to you, and I know you will see me through.

I think slavery is the next thing to hell. If a person would send another into bondage, he would, it appears to me, be bad enough to send him into hell if he could.

The good Lord has come down to deliver my people, and I must go and help him.

God’s time is always near. He gave me my strength and he set the North Star in the heavens; He meant I should be free.

I am at peace with God and all mankind.

You never appreciate your parents until you are one.

I’m going to enjoy every little tiny moment with my family cause when crunch time comes it gets really lonely.

It’s not your fault you were born into a poor family or country.

I was the only one in my family to be musically inclined, and my mother loved that.

I’m so private that my own family rarely knows me.

I’ve got a really good family; I’ve got great friends around me.

I grew up in a family in which political issues were often discussed, and debated intensely.

It is a moral outrage that the richest family in America pays workers at Walmart starvation wages.