Whenever my condition was improved, instead of its increasing my contentment, it only increased my desire to be free, and set me to thinking of plans to gain my freedom.

We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.

I have observed this in my experience of slavery, that whenever my condition was improved, instead of increasing my contentment, it only increased my desire to be free, and set me to thinking of plans to gain my freedom. I have found that, to make a contented slave, it is necessary to make a thoughtless one.

Fugitive slaves were rare then, and as a fugitive slave lecturer, I had the advantage of being the first one out.

Without a struggle, there can be no progress.

A little learning, indeed, may be a dangerous thing, but the want of learning is a calamity to any people.