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Compared with what their masters had done to them in cold blood, what [the slaves] did was negligible, and they were spurred on by the ferocity with which the whites in Le Cap treated all slave prisoners who fell into their hands.

— C. L. R. James The Black Jacobins (1938)

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More quotes by C. L. R. James

The cruelties of property and privilege are always more ferocious than the revenges of poverty and oppression. For the one aims at perpetuating resented injustice, the other is merely a momentary passion soon appeased.

The Black Jacobins (1938)

Christopher Columbus landed first in the New World at the island of San Salvador, and after praising God enquired urgently for gold.

The Black Jacobins (1938)

Here, on the cricket field if nowhere else, all men in the island are equal, and we are the best men in the island.

Beyond a Boundary (1963)

The rich are only defeated when running for their lives.

The Black Jacobins (1938)

If you are not their slaves, you are rebels.

The Black Jacobins (1938)

All C. L. R. James quotes →

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