Frederick Douglass

Thus early, I got a foretaste of that painful uncertainty which slavery brings to the ordinary lot of mortals.

Meanwhile, I resolved to add to my educational attainments the art of writing.

I now not only had the hope of freedom, but a foreshadowing of the means by which I might, some day, gain that inestimable boon.

It was not my enslavement, at the then present time, that most affected me; the being a slave for life, was the saddest thought.

I nevertheless remembered their words and their advice, and looked forward to an escape to the north, as a possible means of gaining the liberty for which my heart panted.

Thus assured, and cheered on, under the inspiration of hope, I worked and prayed with a light heart, believing that my life was under the guidance of a wisdom higher than my own.

He fanned my already intense love of knowledge into a flame, by assuring me that I was to be a useful man in the world.

He threw my thoughts into a channel from which they have never entirely diverged.

His words made a deep impression on my mind, and I verily felt that some such work was before me, though I could not see how I should ever engage in its performance.

I have gathered scattered pages from this holy book, from the filthy street gutters of Baltimore, and washed and dried them, that in the moments of my leisure, I might get a word or two of wisdom from them.

I loved all mankind—slaveholders not excepted; though I abhorred slavery more than ever.

I seemed to live in a new world, surrounded by new objects, and to be animated by new hopes and desires.