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To give liberty to a slave before he understands its value is, perhaps, rather to impose a penalty than to bestow a blessing; but it is not clear to me that the southern planters are duly exerting themselves to prepare the way for that change in the condition of their black populations which they profess to think not only desirable but inevitable.

— Frances Wright

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Freedom

More quotes by Frances Wright

I have wedded the cause of human improvement, staked on it my fortune, my reputation and my life.

From the era which dates the national existence of the American people, dates also a mighty step in the march of human knowledge.

Independence Day speech (1828)

We detect … throughout the whole of things — in the operations of nature, of human society, and in those of our own internal percipient and sentient soul — two master energies.

An opinion, right or wrong, can never constitute a moral offense, nor be in itself a moral obligation. It may be mistaken; it may involve an absurdity, or a contradiction. It is a truth; or it is an error: it can never be a crime or a virtue.

A Few Days in Athens (1822)

The Virginians are said to pride themselves upon the peculiar tenderness with which they visit the sceptre of authority on their African vassals.

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You have to start with the truth. The truth is the only way that we can get anywhere. Because any decision-making that is based upon lies or ignorance can't lead to a good conclusion.

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What constitutes the bulwark of our own liberty and independence?

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Science and religion are two human enterprises sharing many features.

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

Robert Anton Wilson

Attribution

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