Quotes from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

“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 Ann Jacobs, quote from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

“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 Ann Jacobs, quote from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

“God judges men by their hearts, not by the color of their skins.”
― Harriet Ann Jacobs, quote from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

“My Master had power and law on his side; I had a determined will. There is might in each.”
― Harriet Ann Jacobs, quote from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

“Would that I had more ability! But my heart is so full, and my pen is so weak!”
― Harriet Ann Jacobs, quote from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

“The brightest skies are always foreshadowed by dark clouds”
― Harriet Ann Jacobs, quote from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

“There are wrongs which even the grave does not bury.”
― Harriet Ann Jacobs, quote from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

“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 Ann Jacobs, quote from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

“the scripture says "oppression makes it even a wise man mad"...”
― Harriet Ann Jacobs, quote from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

“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 Ann Jacobs, quote from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

“Why allow the tendrils of the heart to twine around objects which may at any moment be wrenched away”
― Harriet Ann Jacobs, quote from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

“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 Ann Jacobs, quote from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

“They all spoke kindly of my dead mother, who had been a slave merely in name, but in nature was noble and womanly.”
― Harriet Ann Jacobs, quote from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

“Cruelty is contagious in uncivilized communities.”
― Harriet Ann Jacobs, quote from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

“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 Ann Jacobs, quote from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

“I resolved not to be conquered again.”
― Harriet Ann Jacobs, quote from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

“Satan's church is here below; Up to God's free church I hope to go.”
― Harriet Ann Jacobs, quote from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

“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 Ann Jacobs, quote from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

“I can testify, from my own experience and observation, that slavery is a curse to the whites as well as to the blacks. It makes white fathers cruel and sensual; the sons violent and licentious; it contaminates the daughters, and makes the wives wretched.”
― Harriet Ann Jacobs, quote from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

“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 Ann Jacobs, quote from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

“There are no bonds so strong as those which are formed by suffering together.”
― Harriet Ann Jacobs, quote from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

“Ah, if he had ever been a slave he would have known how difficult it was to trust white men.”
― Harriet Ann Jacobs, quote from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

“Moreover, they thought he had spoiled his children, by teaching them to feel that they were human beings.”
― Harriet Ann Jacobs, quote from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

“Take courage, Willie; brighter days will come by and by.”
― Harriet Ann Jacobs, quote from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

“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 Ann Jacobs, quote from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

“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 Ann Jacobs, quote from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

“They had never felt slavery; and, when it was too late, they were convinced of its reality. When”
― Harriet Ann Jacobs, quote from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

“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 Ann Jacobs, quote from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

“As I was about to open the street door, Sally laid her hand on my shoulder, and said, "Linda, is you gwine all”
― Harriet Ann Jacobs, quote from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

“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 Ann Jacobs, quote from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

About the author

Popular quotes

“أينز: لماذا كنت تؤلمها هكذا؟
جارسيا: كان الأمر سهلا، كلمة واحدة كافية لتجعلها راضية ــ الجحيم”
― Jean-Paul Sartre, quote from No Exit

“It was much easier to explain the veil than to answer questions about the wounds.”
― Pawan Mishra, quote from Coinman: An Untold Conspiracy

“The King, full of mercy and goodness, very far from chastising me, embraces me with love, makes me eat at His table, serves me with His own hands, gives me the key of His treasures; He converses and delights Himself with me incessantly, in a thousand and a thousand ways, and treats me in all respects as His favorite. It is thus I consider myself from time to time in His holy presence.”
― Brother Lawrence, quote from The Practice of the Presence of God

“And the truth is, I’d felt kind of a thrill about wearing Jason’s Big Boy pants. I was a sick kid, even way back then.”
― Meg Cabot, quote from How to Be Popular

“-“I remember my father telling me about England’s redrawing of India’s boundaries when it became independent. They wanted to separate the Hindu from the Muslim, but they used outdated maps. Twelve million people had to relocate because the Brits screwed it up so badly. And a half million people died during the resulting chaos. And before that, Iraq was unilaterally cobbled together, causing many of the conflicts we see today. There are dozens of such examples. The strong countries smashing the weaker ones and then avoiding responsibility later for the very problems they caused.”
-“You keep proving my point, Tom, that we’re rotten to the core.”
-“My point is we never learn!”
― David Baldacci, quote from The Camel Club

Interesting books

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.