Harriet Jacobs Quotes & Sayings

Yet few slaveholders seem to be aware of the widespread moral ruin occasioned by this wicked system. Their talk is of blighted cotton crops
not of the blight on their children's souls. — Harriet Jacobs

The brightest skies are always foreshadowed by dark clouds — Harriet Jacobs

There is something akin to freedom in having a lover who has no control over you, except that which he gains by kindness and attachment — Harriet Jacobs

There are wrongs which even the grave does not bury. — Harriet Jacobs

My visit to England is a memorable event in my life, from the fact of my having there received strong, religious impressions. The contemptuous manner in which the communion had been administered to colored people in my native place; the church membership of Dr. Flint and others like him; and the buying and selling of slaves, by professed ministers of the gospel, had given me a prejudice against the Episcopal church. The whole service seemed to me a mockery and a sham. But my home in Steventon was in the home of a clergyman, who was a true disciple of Jesus. The beauty of his daily life inspired me with faith in the genuineness of Christian professions. Grace entered my heart, and I knelt at the communion table, I trust, in true humility of soul. — Harriet Jacobs

Mrs. Flint, like many southern women, was totally deficient in energy. She had not strength to superintend her household affairs; but her nerves were so strong, that she could sit in her easy chair and see a woman whipped, till the blood trickled from every stroke of the lash. She was a member of the church; but partaking of the Lord's supper did not seem to — Harriet Jacobs

The scripture says "oppression makes it even a wise man mad" ... — Harriet Jacobs

They all spoke kindly of my dead mother, who had been a slave merely in name, but in nature was noble and womanly. — Harriet Jacobs

She may be an ignorant creature, degraded by the system that has brutalized her from childhood; but she has a mother's instincts, and is capable of feeling a mother's agonies. — Harriet Jacobs

Many of the slaves believe such stories, and think it is not worth while to exchange slavery for such a hard kind of freedom. It is difficult to persuade such that freedom could make them useful men, and enable them to protect their wives and children. If those heathen in our Christian land had as much teaching as some Hindoos, they would think otherwise. They would know that liberty is more valuable than life. They would begin to understand their own capabilities, and exert themselves to become men and women. — Harriet Jacobs

Women are considered of no value, unless they continually increase their owner's stock. They are put on a par with animals. This same master shot a woman through the head, who had run away and been brought back to him. No one called him to account for it. If a slave resisted being whipped, the bloodhounds were unpacked, and set upon him, to tear his flesh from his bones. The master who did these things was highly educated, and styled a perfect gentleman. He also boasted the name and standing of a Christian, though Satan never had a truer follower. I — Harriet Jacobs

to render me miserable. He — Harriet Jacobs

Satan's church is here below; Up to God's free church I hope to go. — Harriet Jacobs

My mistress had taught me the precepts of God's Word: "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." "Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them. — Harriet Jacobs

Why allow the tendrils of the heart to twine around objects which may at any moment be wrenched away — Harriet Jacobs

Moreover, they thought he had spoiled his children, by teaching them to feel that they were human beings. — Harriet Jacobs

The war of my life had begun; and though one of God's most powerless creatures, I resolved never to be conquered. — Harriet Jacobs

I admit that the black man is inferior. But what is it that makes him so? It is the ignorance in which white men compel him to live; — Harriet Jacobs

I am aware that some of my adventures may seem incredible; but they are, nevertheless, strictly true. I — Harriet Jacobs

No, I did not think of him. When a man is hunted like a wild beast he forgets there is a God, a heaven. He forgets every thing in his struggle to get beyond the reach of the bloodhounds. — Harriet Jacobs

It seemed as if I were born to bring sorrow on all who befriended me, and that was the bitterest drop in the bitter cup of my life. — Harriet Jacobs

Take courage, Willie; brighter days will come by and by. — Harriet Jacobs

I resolved not to be conquered again. — Harriet Jacobs

Ah, if he had ever been a slave he would have known how difficult it was to trust white men. — Harriet Jacobs

What does he know of the half-starved wretches toiling from dawn till dark on the plantations? of mothers shrieking for their children, torn from their arms by slave traders? of young girls dragged down into moral filth? of pools of blood around the whipping post? of hounds trained to tear human flesh? — Harriet Jacobs

As I was about to open the street door, Sally laid her hand on my shoulder, and said, "Linda, is you gwine all — Harriet Jacobs

Do you know that I have a right to do as I like with you, - that I can kill you, if I please?" "You — Harriet Jacobs

They had never felt slavery; and, when it was too late, they were convinced of its reality. When — Harriet Jacobs

My Master had power and law on his side; I had a determined will. There is might in each. — Harriet Jacobs

I had never realized what grand things air and sunlight are till I had been deprived of them. — Harriet Jacobs

God judges men by their hearts, not by the color of their skins. — Harriet Jacobs

Reader, did you ever hate? I hope not. I never did but once; and I trust I never shall again. Somebody has called it "the atmosphere of hell"; and I believe it is so. — Harriet Jacobs

These God-breathing machines are no more, in the sight of their masters, than the cotton they plant, or the horses they — Harriet Jacobs

He grew vexed and asked if poverty and hardships with freedom, were not preferable to our treatment in slavery ... No, I will not stay. Let them bring me back. We don't die but once. — Harriet Jacobs

Would that I had more ability! But my heart is so full, and my pen is so weak! — Harriet Jacobs