Uncle Tom's Cabin Quotes

The longest way must have its close - the gloomiest night will wear on to a morning.

...the heart has no tears to give,--it drops only blood, bleeding itself away in silence.

There are in this world blessed souls, whose sorrows all spring up into joys for others; whose earthly hopes, laid in the grave with many tears, are the seed from which spring healing flowers and balm for the desolate and the distressed.

Of course, in a novel, people’s hearts break, and they die, and that is the end of it; and in a story this is very convenient. But in real life we do not die when all that makes life bright dies to us. There is a most busy and important round of eating, drinking, dressing, walking, visiting, buying, selling, talking, reading, and all that makes up what is commonly called living, yet to be gone through…

For how imperiously, how coolly, in disregard of all one’s feelings, does the hard, cold, uninteresting course of daily realities move on! Still we must eat, and drink, and sleep, and wake again, - still bargain, buy, sell, ask and answer questions, - pursue, in short, a thousand shadows, though all interest in them be over; the cold, mechanical habit of living remaining, after all vital interest in it has fled.

Perhaps it is impossible for a person who does no good not to do harm.

Any mind that is capable of a real sorrow is capable of good.

Treat 'em like dogs, and you'll have dogs' works and dogs' actions. Treat 'em like men, and you'll have men's works.

Religion! Is what you hear at church religion? Is that which can bend and turn, and descend and ascend, to fit every crooked phase of selfish, worldly society, religion? Is that religion which is less scrupulous, less generous, less just, less considerate for man, than even my own ungodly, worldly, blinded nature? No! When I look for religion, I must look for something above me, and not something beneath.

Scenes of blood and cruelty are shocking to our ear and heart. What man has nerve to do, man has not nerve to hear.

Strange, what brings these past things so vividly back to us, sometimes!

For, so inconsistent is human nature, especially in the ideal, that not to undertake a thing at all seems better than to undertake and come short.

Death! Strange that there should be such a word, and such a thing, and we ever forget it; that one should be living, warm and beautiful, full of hopes, desires and wants, one day, and the next be gone, utterly gone, and forever!

What's your hurry?"Because now is the only time there ever is to do a thing in," said Miss Ophelia.

I am braver than I was because I have lost all; and he who has nothing to lose can afford all risks.

I am one of the sort that lives by throwing stones at other people'sglass houses, but I never mean to put up one for them to stone.

O, with what freshness, what solemnity and beauty, is each new day born; as if to say to insensate man, "Behold! thou hast one more chance! Strive for immortal glory!

Talk of the abuses of slavery! Humbug! The thing itself is the essence of all abuse!

I make no manner of doubt that you threw a very diamond of truth at me, though you see it hit me so directly in the face that it wasn't exactly appreciated, at first.

Could I ever have loved you, had I not known you better than you know yourself?

But it is often those who have least of all in this life whom He chooseth for the kingdom. Put thy trust in Him and no matter what befalls thee here, He will make all right hereafter.

What man has nerve to do, man has not nerve to hear.

And, perhaps, among us may be found generous spirits, who do not estimate honour and justice by dollars and cents.

Tom opened his eyes, and looked upon his master. "Ye poor miserable critter!" he said, "there ain't no more ye can do! I forgive ye, with all my soul!" and he fainted entirely away.

But, of old, there was One whose suffering changed an instrument of torture, degradation and shame, into a symbol of glory, honor, and immortal life; and, where His spirit is, neither degrading stripes, nor blood, nor insults, can make the Christian's last struggle less than glorious.

Perhaps you laugh too, dear reader; but you know humanity comes out in a variety of strange forms now-a-days, and there is no end to the odd things that humane people will say and do.

Perhaps," said Miss Ophelia, "it is impossible for a person who does no good not to do harm.

O, because I have had only that kind of benevolence which consists in lying on a sofa, and cursing the church and clergy for not being martyrs and confessors. One can see, you know, very easily, how others ought to be martyrs. -Augustine St. Clare

But I want it done now, " said Miss Ophelia.What's your hurry?"Because now is the only time there ever is to do a thing in," said Miss Ophelia.

It is with the oppressed, enslaved, African race that I cast in my lot; and if I wished anything, I would wish myself two shades darker, rather than one lighter.

An atmosphere of sympathetic influence encircles every human being; and the man or woman who feels strongly, healthily and justly, on the great interests of humanity, is a constant benefactor to the human race.

The water of the river is the calmest, where the deepest.

Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Abraham Lincoln. When he met Stowe, it is claimed that he said, "So you're the little woman that started this great war!

Oh my Eva, whose little hour on earth did so much good... what account have I to give for my long years?

That’s right; put on the steam, fasten down the escape-valve, and sit on it, and see there you’ll land.

Liberty! -- Electric word!

But at midnight — strange, mystic hour, when the veil between the frail present and the eternal future grows thin — then came the messenger.

Well," said St. Clare, "suppose that something shoul bring down the price of cotton once and forever, and make the whole slave property a drug in the market, don't you think we should soon have another version of the Scripture doctrine? What flood of light would pour the church, all at once, and immediately it would be discovered that everything in the bible and reason went the other way.

«Couldn't never be nothin' but a nigger, if I was ever so good,» said Topsy. «If I could be skinned, and come white, I'd try then.»

Look at the high and the low, all the world over, and it's the same story,—the lower class used up, body, soul and spirit, for the good of the upper.

Is there anything in it glorious and dear for a nation, that is not also glorious and dear for a man? What is freedom to a nation, but freedom to the individuals in it?

Marie was one of those unfortunately constituted mortals, in whose eyes whatever is lost and gone assumes a value which it never had in possession.

O yes! a machine for saving work, is it? He'd invent that, I'll be bound; let a nigger alone for that, any time. They are all labor-saving machines themselves, every one of 'em. No, he shall tramp!

In the midst of life we are in death,'" said Miss Ophelia.

His conversation was in free and easy defiance of Murray's Grammar, and was garnished at convenient intervals with various profane expressions, which not even the desire to be graphic in our account shall induce us to transcribe.

Late in the afternoon of a chilly day in February, two gentlemen were sitting alone over their wine, in a well-furnished dining parlor, in the town of P——, in Kentucky. There were no servants present, and the gentlemen, with chairs closely approaching, seemed to be discussing some subject with great earnestness.

«It's true, Christian-like or not; and is about as Christian-like as most other things in the world,» said Alfred.

Obeying God never brings on public evils. I know it can’t. It’s always safest, all round, to do as He bids us.

Tom read,—"Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.""Them's good words, enough," said the woman; "who says 'em?""The Lord," said Tom."I jest wish I know'd whar to find Him," said the woman.