The whole commerce between master and slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions, the most unremitting despotism on the one part, and degrading submissions on the other. Our children see this, and learn to imitate it. – Thomas Jefferson
The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive. – Thomas Jefferson
To penetrate and dissipate these clouds of darkness, the general mind must be strengthened by education. – Thomas Jefferson
Slavery is so intolerable a condition that the slave can hardly escape deluding himself into thinking that he is choosing to obey his masters commands when, in fact, he is obliged to. Most slaves of habit suffer from this delusion and so do some writers, enslaved by an all too personal style. – W. H. Auden