I cannot remember a night so dark as to have hindered the coming day.
JOHN BROWNI cannot remember a night so dark as to have hindered the coming day.
JOHN BROWNI am gaining in health slowly, and am quite cheerful in view of my approaching end, – being fully persuaded that I am worth inconceivably more to hang than any other purpose.
JOHN BROWNHad I so interfered in behalf of the rich, the powerful, the intelligent, the so-called great, or in behalf of any of their friends…every man in this court would have deemed it an act worthy of reward rather than punishment.
JOHN BROWNI have been whipped, as the saying is, but I am sure I can recover all the lost capital occasioned by that disaster; by only hanging a few moments by the neck; and I feel quite determined to make the utmost possible out of a defeat.
JOHN BROWNI am worth inconceivably more to hang than for any other purpose.
JOHN BROWNThe same eye cannot both look up to heaven and down to earth.
JOHN BROWNHoliness does not consist in mystic speculations, enthusiastic fervours, or uncommanded austerities; it consists in thinking as God thinks, and willing as God wills.
JOHN BROWNBe mild with the mild, shrewd with the crafty, confiding to the honest, rough to the ruffian, and a thunderbolt to the liar. But in all this, never be unmindful of your own dignity.
JOHN BROWNI don’t think the people of the slave states will ever consider the subject of slavery in its true light till some other argument is resorted to other than moral persuasion.
JOHN BROWNSo far as I ever observed God’s dealings with my soul, the flights of preachers sometimes entertained me, but it was Scripture expressions which did penetrate my heart, and in a way peculiar to themselves.
JOHN BROWNI want you to understand that I respect the rights of the poorest and weakest of colored people, oppressed by the slave system, just as much as I do those of the most wealthy and powerful. That is the idea that has moved me, and that alone.
JOHN BROWNSymptoms are the body’s mother tongue; signs are in a foreign language.
JOHN BROWNHere, before God, in the presence of these witnesses, from this time, I consecrate my life to the destruction of slavery!
JOHN BROWNNow let us thank th’ eternal power, convinced That Heaven but tries our virtue by affliction: That oft the cloud that wraps the present hour Serves but to brighten all our future days.
JOHN BROWNThese men are all talk; What is needed is action – action!
JOHN BROWNThe intent and not the deed Is in our power; and, therefore, who dares greatly Does greatly.
JOHN BROWN