It is not the fault of the slaveholder that he is cruel, so much as it is the fault of the system under which he lives. He cannot withstand the influ…

- Solomon Northup

I could not comprehend the justice of that law, or that religion, which upholds or recognizes the principle of slavery.

- Solomon Northup

There have been hours in my unhappy life, many of them, when the contemplation of death as the end of earthly sorrow - of the grave as a resting plac…

- Solomon Northup

What difference is there in the color of the soul?

- Solomon Northup

Is everything right because the law allows it?

- Solomon Northup

Really, it was difficult to determine which I had most reason to fear—dogs, alligators or men!

- Solomon Northup

I can speak of slavery only so far as it came under my own observation - only so far as I have known and experienced it in my own person.

- Solomon Northup

Life is dear to every living thing; the worm that crawls upon the ground will struggle for it.

- Solomon Northup

Suffice it to say, during the whole long day I came not to the conclusion, even once, that the southern slave, fed, clothed, whipped and protected by…

- Solomon Northup