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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More from Frederick Douglass
The sentiment that brings us here to-day is one of the noblest that can stir and thrill the human heart.
We could not but believe that there existed at the South a latent and powerful Union sentiment which would assert itself at last.
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.