From this time I understood the words abolition and abolitionist, and always drew near when that word was spoken, expecting to hear something of importance to myself and fellow-slaves.
Douglass explains how, after learning the true meaning of "abolition," he became keenly attentive to any mention of the term, recognizing its significance for his own freedom and that of others.
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I believed I should get enough to eat at Covey’s, even if I suffered in other respects, and this to a hungry man is not a prospect to be regarded with indifference.
Treason had shot its poisonous roots deeper, and had spread its death-dealing branches further than any northern calculation had covered.
Land is not worth much where there are no people to occupy it, and a mule is not worth much where there is no one to drive him.
He was called upon not merely to administer the government, but to decide, in the face of terrible odds, the fate of the Republic.