Kevin Bales Quotes

Servitude degrades people to such a point that they come to like it.

In every man's mind the good seeds of liberty are planted, and he who brings his fellow down so low, as to make him contented with a condition of slavery, commits the highest crime against God and man. Brethren, your oppressors aim to do this. They endeavor to make you as much like brutes as possible. When they have blinded the eyes of your mind-when they have embittered the sweet waters of the light which shines from the word of God-then, and not till then has American slavery done its perfect work.

The slave child had no thought for the morrow; but there came that blight, which too surely waits on every human being born to be a chattel.

Beat and cuff your slave, keep him hungry and spiritless, and he will follow the chain of his master like a dog. Feed and clothe him well, work him moderately, surround him with physical comfort and dreams of freedom intrude.

Whatever day Makes man a slave, takes half his worth away.

However you disguise slavery, it is slavery still. Its chains, though wreathed with roses, not only fasten on the body but rivet on the mind.

A slave-holder cannot hold a slave without putting himself or his deputy in the cage for holding the slave.

Slavery was a long slow process of dulling.

We are the slaves of slaves

That slow poison [slavery] is daily contaminating the minds and morals of our people. Every gentlemen here is born a petty tyrant, practiced in acts of despotism and cruelty.

Talk about slavery! It is not the peculiar institution of the South. It exists wherever men are bought and sold, wherever a man allows himself to be made a mere thing or a tool, and surrenders his inalienable rights of reason and conscience. Indeed, this slavery is more complete than that which enslaves the body alone.

We were his disposable things. Brought to him like cattle. Stripped of what made us sisters or daughters or children. There was nothing that he could take from us—our genes, our bones, our wombs—that would ever satisfy him. There was no other way that we would be free.

Slavery, properly so called, is the establishment of a right which gives to one man such a power over another as renders him absolute master of his life and fortune.

Slavery takes hold of few, but many take hold of slavery.

People can be slave-ships in shoes.

Slavery was not a bad day on the job. It was not your boss yelling at you. It was not hard work for little pay. This was a full system of human subjugation.

Desire, ignorance, and inequality—this is the trinity of bondage.

Brothers, this is our present situation-thus have many of the king's counselors and servants dealt with us. If we submit, or comply with their demands, you can easily perceive to what state we will be reduced. If our people labor on the field, they will not know who shall enjoy the crop. If they hunt in the woods, it will be uncertain who shall taste of the meat or have the skins.-If they build houses, they will not know whether they may sit round the fire, with their wives and children. They cannot be sure whether they shall be permitted to eat, drink, and wear the fruits of their own labor and industry.

Slavery is the rule. Freedom the exception.

If you will have a person enslaved, the first thing you must do is convince yourself that the person is subhuman. The second thing you have to do is convince your allies so you'll have some help, and the third and probably unkindest cut of all is to convince that person that he or she is subhuman and deserves it.

Most people say they're slaves, but in my opinion, to say that I am a slave is to take ownership of actually being a slave - to be a tool, be a thing. Basically cattle.

Make us your slaves, but feed us.

Slavery doesn't have any positives.

My definition of slavery is the deprivation of human volition, any form of relationship between two peoples which is based on the deprivation of volition of one side.

I pity from the bottom of my heart any nation or body of people that is so unfortunate as to get entangled in the net of slavery.