Frederick Douglass: “The great world was opening upon me very rapidly, and I was eagerly acquainting myself with its multifarious lessons.”

I wished it was possible I could remain small all my life, knowing that the sooner I grew large the shorter would be my time to remain with them.

The friendless and hungry boy, in his extremest need, found himself in the strong protecting arms of his mother.

He was called upon not merely to administer the government, but to decide, in the face of terrible odds, the fate of the Republic.

We (the people of the North) are a charitable people, and in the excess of this feeling we were disposed to put the very best construction upon the strange behavior of our southern brethren.