I grew up like a neglected weed, ignorant of liberty, having no experience of it. Then I was not happy or contented: every time I saw a white man I was afraid of being carried away.

If you hear the dogs, keep going. If you see the torches in the woods, keep going. If there's shouting after you, keep going. Don't ever stop. Keep going. If you want a taste of freedom, keep going.

I was the conductor of the Underground Railroad for eight years, and I can say what most conductors can't say; I never ran my train off the track and I never lost a passenger.

Every great dream begins with a dreamer.

I had reasoned this out in my mind, there was one of two things I had a right to, liberty or death; if I could not have one, I would have the other.

The Lord who told me to take care of my people meant me to do it just as long as I live, and so I did what he told me.

Lord, I'm going to hold steady on to You and You've got to see me through.

Never wound a snake; kill it.

I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person. There was such a glory over everything. The sun came up like gold through the trees, and over the fields, and I felt like I was in heaven.

I had crossed de line of which I had so long been dreaming. I was free; but dere was no one to welcome me to de land of freedom, I was a stranger in a strange land.

Twant me, 'twas the Lord. I always told him, 'I trust to you. I don't know where to go or what to do, but I expect you to lead me,' and He always did.

Wisdom never kicks at the iron walls it can't bring down.

Falsehood is invariably the child of fear in one form or another.

If you truly want to make an impact on the world, you can and you will.

I don't want to lose my accent, I just want it to become smaller.

The birth mother is placing the baby out of love. I still believe that. Well, the ones weve dealt with who were actually pregnant, anyway.

He can develop sense and style, in the manner of distinguished modern prose, in which event he may be sure that the result will not fall into any objective form.

Everybody has a different journey.

We have boys now, and men, in the rock and roll business and all the show business, who have this reaction on women. They scream. They yell. They do all sorts of wild things.

There's no way to be able to tell what it's like to be a country singer until you're walking in the shoes.

Jealousy, which serves the struggle for survival, can deteriorate into the envy which draws defeat even from victory.