I was a tried seaman when, for the first time, I set foot upon the soil of my country, and took up my residence where my people had lived for over two hundred years.

In such a condition of affairs, the practical difference between the abolitionist and the sympathizer, to the man who lost his slave and could not recover it, was very nebulous.

In those days, slavery was not looked upon, even in Quaker Philadelphia, with the shudder and abhorrence one feels towards it now.

John Brown was tried for treason, murder, and inciting slaves to insurrection.

In the year 1857, passing through Washington on our return from the annual visit to Philadelphia, I had the distinguished honor of visiting a President for the first time.

However the Southern man may have been master of the negro, there were compensatory processes whereby certain negroes were masters of their masters' children.

In all her history, from the formation of the federal government until the hour of secession, no year stands out more prominently than the year 1858 as evidencing the national patriotism of Virginia.

The first American ancestor of our name was a younger son of these old Devonshire people, and came to the Virginia colony in the reign of Charles the First.

THE autumn of 1850 brought an event freighted with deep significance to me. My mother died.

As early as the autumn of 1862, I was made very happy by being sent to school.

My mother was a Northern woman, daughter of Hon. John Sergeant, a distinguished lawyer, and for many years representative in Congress from Philadelphia.

When I go to the gym, stretching is very important. For polo, you don't need too much strength so you don't want to build yourself up too much. It's all about flexibility.

The whole business of reading English Literature in two years, to know it in any reputable sense of the word - let alone your learning to write English - is, in short, impossible.

I made a compact with myself that in my person literature should stand by itself, of itself, and for itself.

Sleepin' in the truck wasn't so bad. Shoot, I kind of liked that, myself.

The best author will be the one who is ashamed to become a writer.

We are as liable to be corrupted by books, as by companions.

As a leader, your job is to energize people around the mission and vision you've articulated.

A book, a book full of human touches, of shirts, a book without loneliness, with men and tools, a book is victory.

Don't let the door hitcha where the good Lord splitcha.