Slavery Quotes by Mark Twain

10 Slavery quotes by Mark Twain

When Twain turns his pen to the institution of bondage, his humor never softens the harsh reality. These ten excerpts show how he blends satire with a clear moral stance, offering a compact yet potent glimpse into his perspective.

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“To all intents and purposes Roxy was as white as anybody, but the one sixteenth of her which was black outvoted the…

Mark Twain

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The blunting effects of slavery upon the slaveholder's moral perceptions are known and conceded the world over; and a priveleged class, an…

Mark Twain

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“Everybody granted that if "Tom" were white and free it would be unquestionably right to punish him--it would be no loss to…

Mark Twain

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In my schoolboy days I had no aversion to slavery. I was not aware there was anything wrong about it. No-one arraigned…

Mark Twain

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In all the ages the Roman Church has owned slaves, bought and sold slaves, authorized and encouraged her children to trade in…

Mark Twain

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Man is the only slave. And he is the only animal who enslaves. He has always been a slave in one form…

Mark Twain

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There was no place in the land where the seeker could not find some small budding sign of pity for the slave.…

Mark Twain

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“Jim said it made him all over trembly and feverish to be so close to freedom. Well, I can tell you it…

Mark Twain

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“We had a little slave boy whom we had hired from some one, there in Hannibal. He was from the Eastern Shore…

Mark Twain

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“It was pitiful for a person born in a wholesome free atmosphere to listen to their humble and hearty outpourings of loyalty…

Mark Twain

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Sing like no one's listening, love like you've never been hurt, dance like nobody's watching, and live like its heaven on earth.

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If you had made the acquiring of ignorance the study of your life, you could not have graduated with higher honor than you could…

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“The Creator sat upon the throne, thinking. Behind him stretched the illimitable continent of heaven, steeped in a glory of light and color; before…

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It's easy to quit smoking. I've done it hundreds of times.

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“It is never wrong to do the right thing.”

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A man accustomed to American food and American domestic cookery would not starve to death suddenly in Europe, but I think he would gradually…

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There is nothing training can't cannot do. Nothing is above its reach.

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I never write Metropolis for seven cents because I can get the same price for city. I never write policeman because I can get…

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The higher animals get their teeth without pain or inconvenience. Man gets his through months and months of cruel torture; he will never get…

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“As far as I can see, Italy, for fifteen hundred years, has turned all her energies, all her finances, and all her industry to…

Mark Twain

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Begin with the determination to succeed and the work is half done already.

Mark Twain

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Many public-school children seem to know only two dates—1492 and 4th of July; and as a rule they don't know what happened on either…

Mark Twain

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If we could imagine such a man, that is a man who could invent the fly and send him out on his mission and…

Mark Twain

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You perceive, now, that these things are all impossible except in a dream. You perceive that they are pure and puerile insanities, the silly…

Mark Twain

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Lord save us all from a hope tree that has lost the faculty of putting out blossoms.

Mark Twain

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