We had a little slave boy whom we had hired from some one, there in Hannibal. He was from the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and had been brought away from his family and his friends, half way across the American continent, and sold. He was a cheery spirit, innocent and gentle, and the noisiest creature that ever was, perhaps. All day long he was singing, whistling, yelling, whooping, laughing - it was maddening, devastating, unendurable. At last, one day, I lost all my temper, and went raging to my mother, and said Sandy had been singing for an hour without a single break, and I couldn't stand it, and wouldn't she please shut him up. The tears came into her eyes, and her lip trembled, and she said something like this - 'Poor thing, when he sings, it shows that he is not remembering, and that comforts me; but when he is still, I am afraid he is thinking, and I cannot bear it. He will never see his mother again; if he can sing, I must not hinder it, but be thankful for it. If you were older, you would understand me; then that friendless child's noise would make you glad.' It was a simple speech, and made up of small words, but it went home, and Sandy's noise was not a trouble to me any more. Mark Twain
In a consumer society there are inevitably two kinds of slaves: the prisoners of addiction and the prisoners of envy.
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Ivan Illich
So long as this country is cursed with slavery, so too will it be cursed with vampires.
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Seth GrahameSmith
Sometimes you got to lie on the outside to keep your voice loud on the inside. We don’t owe the master the truth. He owes us. Nothing comes from the master. He is the thief in the night. He steals it all. And every time...
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Jonathan Odell
Technical people don't make good slaves. Without their wholehearted cooperation, things fall apart.
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Vernor Vinge
Slaves sing most when they are most unhappy. The songs of the slave represent the sorrows of his heart; and he is relieved by them, only as an aching heart is relieved by its tears.
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Frederick Douglass
More Quotes By Mark Twain
After all these years, I see that I was mistaken about Eve in the beginning; it is better to live outside the Garden with her than inside it without her.
When you fish for love, bait with your heart, not your brain.
Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.
The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.
Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone you may still exist, but you have ceased to live.
