That which to him was a great evil, to be carefully shunned, was to me a great good, to be diligently sought; and the argument which he so warmly urged, against my learning to read, only served to inspire me with a desire and determination to learn.
In his autobiography, Douglass explains how his master's arguments against slave literacy inadvertently strengthened his own resolve to learn.
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He was called upon not merely to administer the government, but to decide, in the face of terrible odds, the fate of the Republic.
Father he might be, and not be husband, and could sell his own child without incurring reproach, if in its veins coursed one drop of African blood.
For the moment the northern lamb was transformed into a lion, and his roar was terrible.