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If there breathe on earth a slave,
Are ye truly free and brave?
If ye do not feel the chain,
When it works a brother's pain,
Are ye not base slaves indeed,
Slaves unworthy to be freed?

— James Russell Lowell Stanzas on Freedom (1843)

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More quotes by James Russell Lowell

Who speaks the truth stabs Falsehood to the heart.

Poems (1844)

It is by presence of mind in untried emergencies that the native metal of a man is tested.

Abraham Lincoln (1864)

Endurance is the crowning quality,
And patience all the passion of great hearts.

Poems: Second Series (1848)

What a sense of security in an old book which Time has criticised for us!

My Study Windows (1871)

One day with life and heart
Is more than time enough to find a world.

Poems: Second Series (1848)

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There is no governor anywhere; you are all absolutely free. There is no restraint that cannot be escaped.

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: James Russell Lowell (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.