Gerrit Smith Quotes & Sayings

“I need say no more, to prove that slavery is entirely unlike the servitude in the patriarchal families.”

“Truth and mercy require the exertion - never the suppression, of man's noble rights and powers.”

“Let the poor man count as his enemy, and his worst enemy, every invader of the right of free discussion.”

“I trust, that your readers will not construe my words to mean, that I would not have gone to a 3 o'clock in the morning session, for the sake of defeating the Nebraska bill.”

“I am a plain man, and I care and know comparatively little about rhetoric.”

“We must continue to judge of slavery by what it is, and not by what you tell us it will, or may be.”

“My rights all spring front an infinitely nobler source - from favor and grace of God.”

“Our concern, however, is with slavery as it is, and not with any theory of it.”

“To no human charter am I indebted for my rights.”

“When a good man lends himself to the advocacy of slavery, he must, at least for a time, feel himself to be any where but at home, amongst his new thoughts, doctrines, and modes of reasoning.”