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SLANDER || SLAVERY

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SLANDER

see: "COMMUNICATION" for related links
see: "HURTING (SOMEONE)" for related links


Our disputants put me in mind of the cuttlefish, that when he
is unable to extricate himself, blackens all the water about
him till he becomes invisible.
--Joseph Addison (1672—1719)
English essayist, poet, and dramatist.
"The Spectator", no. 122 [20 July 1711]

To think all you say, is but candor;
To say all you think, would be slander.
--William Allingham (1824—1899)
Irish man of letters and poet.
_Blackberries Picked Off Many Bushes_ [1884]

Slander is a poison which extinguishes charity,
both in the slanderer and in the persons who
listen to it.
--St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090—1153)
Cistercian monk and mystic; the founder
and abbot of the abbey of Clairvaux.

All slander
Must still be strangled in its birth; or time
Will soon conspire to make it strong enough
To overcome the truth.
--Sir William Davenant [also spelled D'Avenant] (1606—1668)
English poet, playwright, and theater manager.
Quoted in Mrs. Gore _The Dowager; or, The New School for Scandal_ [1840].

If you hear that someone is speaking ill of you, instead of trying to
defend yourself you should say: 'He obviously does not know me very
well, since there are so many other faults he could have mentioned.'
--Epictetus (55—135)
Greek philosopher.
_The Enchiridion_ [c. 135]

The slander of some people is as great a
recommendation as the praise of others.
--Henry Fielding (1707—1754)
English novelist and dramatist.
_The Temple Beau_ I, i [1729]

He that flings Dirt at another dirtieth himself most.
--Thomas Fuller (1654—1734)
English writer and physician.
Comp., _Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs_ [1732]

No matter: I will live so that none shall believe him.
--Plato (427?—347 B.C.)
Greek philosopher.
When told that someone had spoken ill of him.
In Bronson Alcott _Concord Days_ [1872].

Slander-mongers and those who listen to slander, if
I had my way, would all be strung up, the talkers by
the tongue, the listeners by the ears.
--Titus Maccius Plautus (254—184 BC)
Roman comic dramatist.
Character Callipho, in "Pseudolus", act 1, sc. 5.

To vilify a great man is the readiest way
in which a little man can himself attain
greatness.
--Edgar Allan Poe (1809—1849)
American poet and short-story writer.
Quoted in John H. Ingram
_The Works of Edgar Allan Poe_ [3rd ed., 1883], vol. III "Marginalia".

I never yet heard man or woman much abused, that I was
not inclined to think the better of them; and to transfer any
suspicion or dislike to the person who appeared to take
delight in pointing out the defects of a fellow-creature.
--Jane Porter (1776—1850)
Scottish novelist.
In _Aphorisms of Sir Philip Sidney_ [1807]

A tongue prone to slander is the proof
of a depraved mind.
--Publilius Syrus (85—43 B.C.)
Latin writer of mimes who was originally a slave.

A wound from a tongue is worse than a wound from
a sword; for the latter affects only the body—, the
former, the spirit, the soul.
--Pythagoras (582—486 B.C.)
Ionian mathematician and philosopher.
Attributed in James Comper Gray _The Biblical Museum_ [vol. V, 1878]

I complained before a learned man that someone
had accused me of corruption. He said, 'Put him to
shame by your good conduct.'
--Sa'di [Muslih-uddin] (c. 1213—1292)
Iranian poet.
_The Maxims of Sa'di_ tr. Mehdi Nakosteen [1977]

When the tongue is the weapon, a man may strike where he cannot
reach; and a word shall do execution both further and deeper than
the mightiest blow.
--Bishop Robert South (1634—1716)
English theologian and author.

-

We should not believe every word and suggestion, but
should carefully consider all things in accordance
with the will of God. For such is the weakness of
human nature, alas, that evil is often more readily
believed and spoken of another than good.

But perfect men do not easily believe every tale that
is told them, for they know that man's nature is prone
to evil, and his words to deception.

--Thomas a' Kempis (1380—1471)
German ascetical writer.
_The Imitation of Christ_ [c. 1420],
Book 1, Chapter 4: "On Prudence in Action"


Do not let your peace depend on what people say of
you, for whether they speak good or ill of you makes
no difference to what you are.

True peace and joy is to be found in Me alone.
He who is neither anxious to please nor afraid
to displease men enjoys true peace.

--Thomas a' Kempis (1380—1471)
German ascetical writer.
_The Imitation of Christ_ [c. 1420],
Book 3, Chapter 28: "Against Slander"

-

It takes your enemy and your friend, working together, to
hurt you to the heart: the one to slander you and the other
to get the news to you.
--Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835—1910)
American humorist, novelist, journalist, and river pilot.
_Following the Equator_ [1897] "Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar", ch. XLV

He slandered the world in revenge for his
complete lack of success in it.
--Voltaire (Franηois Marie Arouet) (1694—1778)
French writer and philosopher.
_Zadig_ [1747], tr. H.I. Woolf [1949]

-----

aspersion (noun) [κ-'spκr-zhκn]
1: The act of sprinkling or spattering, especially the sprinkling
of water in religious ceremonies. (The sense of spattering with
mud or dirt has given way to Definition 2.)
2: An act of slander, impugning, or besmirching (a reputation).
(from yourdictionary.com)

calumny [KAL-uhm-nee], noun:
1. False accusation of a crime or offense, intended
to injure another's reputation.
2. Malicious misrepresentation; slander.
Ex.: "They would see to it that every suspicious whisper
and outright calumny would be repeated in print, breathing
fire into the growing spirit of faction.
--William Safire, "Scandalmonger"

denigrate [DEN-i-greyt], verb:
To attack the character or reputation of; defame.

traduce [ruh-DOOS; -DYOOS], transitive verb:
To expose to contempt or shame by means of false statements or
misrepresentation; to represent as blamable; to vilify.
Ex.: Many of you, Our Leader is absolutely sure, were disgusted at
the way Rupert has been traduced in the media.
--A. N. Wilson, "Modern Britain, modern kitchens! New Labour Web
site number 11,"
"Daily Telegraph" [3 March 1998]
Syn.: Calumniate; vilify; defame; slander

vilify (verb) ['vi-lκ-fI]
Defame, malign, utter slanderous statements
against someone. The noun is "vilification".




Click picture to ZOOM
SLAVERY

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see: "THE CIVIL WAR"
see: "INEQUALITY"
see: "LINCOLN (ABRAHAM)"
see: "OPPRESSION"
see: "EVIL" for other related links


I did more for the Russian serf in giving him land
as well as personal liberty, than America did for the
negro slave set free by the proclamation of President
Lincoln.
--Alexander II [Aleksandr Nikolayevich] (1818—1881)
Emperor of Russia [1855—1881].
Interview of 17 August 1879 in
M.J. Cohan and John Major {eds.}
_History in Quotations_ [2004] p. 676.
Cohan & Major add:
The Russian serfs were landless peasants in bondage
to their masters for life. They were freed by the 'Tsar
Liberator', Alexander II, in 1861, the year before
Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation.

It is clear that there are certain people who are free and certain who are
slaves by nature, and it is both to their advantage, and just, for them to
be slaves.
--Aristotle (384—322 B.C.)
Greek philosopher.

But what heart could be so hard as not to be
pierced with piteous feeling to see that company [of
African prisoners]? For some kept their heads low
and their faces bathed in tears, looking upon one
another; others stood groaning ... But to increase
their suffering still more there now arrived those
who had charge of the division of the captives, who
began to separate one from another, in order to
make an equal partition of the fifths; and then it was
needful to part fathers from sons, husbands from
wives, brothers from brothers.
--Gomes Eannes de Azurara (c. 1410—1474)
Portuguese chronicler.
_The Chronicle of the Discovery and Conquest of Guinea_ [1453]
in M.J. Cohan and John Major {eds.}
_History in Quotations_ [2004] p. 315;
Cohan & Major explain:
The expedition of 1445 that brought back these 235
captives was the first to be privately promoted. Its aim was to
return a profit by plunder and slave-raiding, the crown (in the
person of Prince Henry) being entitled to one-fifth of the
proceeds. Azurara and the crowd felt shock and sympathy at
what was then a novel spectacle. A decade later such scenes
would be taken for granted. Such was the beginning of the
Portuguese trade in African slaves, which until this time had
been an Arab monopoly.

The real slavery in Egypt was this: that the
Israelites learned to endure it.
--Rabbi Simcha Bunim of Pshis'cha (1765—1827)
Chassidic leader.

-

When the slavery issue came to a boil, [Robert E. ] Lee made
it quite clear where he stood. He freed his own slaves and wrote,
'Slavery is a moral and political evil in any society, a greater evil
to the white man than the black.' There are some problems of
conscience, however, that cannot be so cleanly solved, and
when the war started Lee faced an acute moral conflict. It was
always a shock to recall that Lincoln offered him the command
of the *Northern* forces. He could have taken it on principle
because he firmly believed that secession was unconstitutional.
But through five generations all his loyalties and affections were
with Virginia.

He spent a day and a night pacing around the bedroom of his
house and looking down the slope of the hill that is the last short
stretch of Virgina before the Potamac River and the North begins.
At the end of this agony, he came downstairs and wrote a letter
to his son, in which he said he believed in the Union and could
'anticipate no greater calamity' than its dissolution. 'Still, a union
that can only be maintained by swords and bayonets . . . has no
charm for me [and] if the Union is disssolved . . . I shall return to
my native state and, save in defense, will draw my sword no
more.'

--Alistair Cooke [Alfred Cooke] (1908—2004)
British-born American broadcater and journalist.
_America_ [1973]

-

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In thinking of America, I sometimes find myself admiring her
bright blue sky - her grand old woods — her fertile fields — her
beautiful rivers — her mighty lakes, and star-crowned mountains.
But my rapture is soon checked, my joy is soon turned to mourning.
When I remember that all is cursed with the infernal spirit of slave-
holding, robbery and wrong, — when I remember that with the
waters of her noblest rivers, the tears of my brethren are borne
to the ocean, disregarded and forgotten, and that her most fertile
fields drink daily of the warm blood of my outraged sisters, I am
filled with unutterable loathing, and led to reproach myself that
any thing could fall from my lips in praise of such a land. America
will not allow her children to love her. She seems bent on
compelling those who would be her warmest friends, to be her
worst enemies. May God give her repentance before it is too late,
is the ardent prayer of my heart. I will continue to pray, labor and
wait, believing that she cannot always be insensible to the dictates
of justice, or deaf to the voice of humanity.
--Frederick Douglass [Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey]
(c.1818—1895)
American abolitionist, reformer, and writer.
[1 January 1846 letter to William Lloyd Garrison.]


No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man
without at last finding the other end fastened about his
own neck.
--Frederick Douglass [Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey]
(c.1818—1895)
American abolitionist, reformer, and writer.
Speech at Civil Rights Meeting, Washington DC [22 October 1883.]

-

If slavery is not distinctly Western, what is? The
movement to end slavery! Abolition is an exclusively
Western institution. The historian J.M. Roberts writes,
"No civilization once dependent on slavery has ever
been able to eradicate it, except the Western." [...]
Never in the history of the world, outside of the West,
has a group of people eligible to be slave owners
mobilized against the institution of slavery. This
distinctive Western attitude is reflected by Abraham
Lincoln: "As I would not be a slave, so I would not
be a master."
--Dinesh D'Souza (1961— )
American author.
_What's So Great About America_ [2002]

I think we must get rid of slavery,
or we must get rid of freedom.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803—1882)
American philosopher and poet.
"The Assault upon Mr. Sumner's Speech" [26 May 1856]
(Sumner often spoke out against slavery.)

That which you would not suffer yourself, seek not to lay
upon others. You would not wish to be a slave — look to
it that others be not slaves to you.
--Epictetus (55—135)
Greek philosopher.
_Fragment 43_,
in M.J. Cohan and John Major {eds.} _History in Quotations_ [2004].
Cohan & Major note that:
Epictetus was a slave and was allowed to attend philosophy
lectures. When he was later freed he became a teacher of
Stoicism. His lectures were collected and published and had
a strong influence on Emperor Marcus Aurelius.

-

The stench of the hold while we were on the coast
was so intolerably loathsome that it was dangerous
to remain there for any time, and some of us had
been permitted to stay on the deck for the fresh air;
but now that the whole ship's cargo were confined
together, it became absolutely pestilential. The
closeness of the place and the heat of the climate,
added to the number in the ship, which was so
crowded that each had scarcely room to turn him-
self, most suffocated us. This produced constant
perspirations, so that the air soon became unfit for
respiration ... and brought on a sickness among the
slaves, of which many died, thus falling victims to
the unprovident avarice, as I may call it, of the
purchasers. This wretched situation was again
aggravated by the galling of the chains, now become
insupportable; and the filth of the tubs, into which
the children often fell, and were almost suffocated.
The shrieks of the women, and the groans of the
dying, rendered a scene of horror almost inconceivable.
--Olaudah Equiano (c. 1750—1797)
West African sold into slavery and later freed.
_Equiano's Travels_ [1789, 1967 edn.] p. 78


[I was sold in Barbados] after the usual manner,
which is this: on a signal given [as the beat of a
drum], the buyers rush at once into the yard, where
the slaves are confined, and make choice of that
parcel they like best. The noise and clamour with
which this is attended, and the eagerness visible in
the countenance of the buyers serve not a little to
increase the apprehensions of the terrified Africans
... in this manner, without scruple, are relations and
friends separated, most of them never to see one
another again.
--Olaudah Equiano (c. 1750—1797)
West African sold into slavery and later freed.
_Equiano's Travels_ [1789, 1967 edn.] p. 63

& see

*Negroes for Sale*

A cargo of very fine stout Men and Women
in good order and fit for immediate service,
just imported from the windward Coast of
Africa, in the Ship _Two Brothers_

Conditions are one half Cash or Produce, the
other half payable the first of January next,
giving bond and Security if required.

The sale to be opened at 10 o'clock each
Day, in Mr. Bourdeaux's Yard, at No. 8 on
the Bay.

May 19, 1784 John Mitchell.

--American advertisement for the sale of slaves [1784]

-

Who dares not speak his free thoughts is a slave.
--Euripides (485?—406 B.C.)
Greek dramatist.
_The Phoenician Virgins_

I *will be* as harsh as truth and as uncompromising
as justice. On this subject, I do not wish to think, or
speak, or write, with moderation. No! No! Tell a man
whose house is on fire to give a moderate alarm; tell
him to moderately rescue his wife from the hands of
the ravisher; tell the mother to gradually extricate
her babe from the fire into which it has fallen; but
urge me not to use moderation in a cause like the
present. [...] I am in earnest—I will not equivocate—
I will not excuse—I will not retreat a single inch—
AND I will be heard.
--William Lloyd Garrison (1805—1879)
American abolitionist and reformer.
In the first issue of the "Liberator" [1 January 1831].

If a slave says to his master, 'You are not my
master,' the master shall cut off his ear.
--Hammurabi Code (21st cent B.C.) Babylonia

This abomination must have an end, and there is
a superior bench reserved in Heaven for those who
hasten it.
--Thomas Jefferson (1743—1826)
American statesman and president [1801—1809].
In a letter to Edward Rutledge [14 July 1787].

^

Hence [Henry] Clay, by furious and skillful activity behind the scenes
and on the House floor, ensured that Maine and Missouri were admitted
together, along with a compromise amendment prohibiting slavery in
the Louisiana Purchase north of latitude 36.30 (March 1820). And by
even greater prodigies of skill he resolved the constitutional question
provoked by the extremists in the Missouri convention by what is
known as the Second Missouri Compromise, the local legislature
solemnly pledging never to enact laws depriving any citizen of his rights
under the US Constitution (February 1821). As a result President
Monroe was able to sign Missouri's admission to the Union in August.
This was the first of three compromises Clay brokered (the others were
1833 and 1850) which defused the periodic explosion between North
and South and postponed the Civil War for forty years. Indeed Senator
Henry S. Foote, who had watched Clay weave his magic spells to disarm
the angry protagonists in Congress, later said: 'Had there been one
such man in the Congress of the United States as Henry Clay in 1860-1,
there would, I am sure, have been no Civil War.'
--Paul Johnson (1928— )
British historian.
_A History of the American People_ [1997] p. 325

^

If men and women are in chains anywhere in the
world, then freedom is endangered everywhere.
--John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917—1963)
American Democratic statesman, President of the U.S. [1961—1963].
Campaign statement, Washington, D.C., [2 October 1960].

In this enlightened age, there are few I believe, but what will acknowledge,
that slavery as an institution is a moral & political evil in any Country. It is
useless to expiate on its disadvantages. I think it however a greater evil
to the white than to the black race, & while my feelings are strongly
enlisted in behalf of the latter, my sympathies are more strong for the
former. The blacks are immeasurably better off here than in Africa,
morally, socially & physically. The painful discipline they are undergoing,
is necessary for their instruction as a race, & I hope will prepare and lead
them to better things. How long their subjugation may be necessary is
known & ordered by a wise Merciful Providence. Their emancipation
will sooner result from the mild & melting influence of Christianity,
than the storms & tempests of fiery Controversy.
--Robert E. Lee (1807—1870)
American Confederate general.
Letter to Mary Curtis Lee [27 December 1856].

-

I hold it to be a paramount duty of us in the free states,
due to the Union of the States, and perhaps to liberty
itself (paradox though it may seem), to let the slavery
of the other states alone, while, on the other hand, I
hold it to be equally clear that we should never knowingly
lend ourselves, directly or indirectly, to prevent that
slavery from dying a natural death.
--Abraham Lincoln (1809—1865)
American Republican statesman, President [1861—1865].
In a letter to Williamson Durley [3 October 1845].


I now do no more than oppose the extension of slavery.
I am not a Know-nothing; that is certain. How could I
be? How can anyone who abhors the oppression of
Negroes be in favor of degrading classes of white
people? Our progress in degeneracy appears to me to
be pretty rapid. As a nation we began by declaring
that *all men are created equal.* We now practically
read it, *all men are created equal except Negroes.*
When the Know-nothings get control, it will read,
*all men are created equal except Negroes, and
foreigners, and Catholics.* When it comes to this
I will prefer emigrating to some country where they
make no pretense of loving liberty — to Russia, for
instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and
without the basic alloy of hypocrisy.
--Abraham Lincoln (1809—1865)
American Republican statesman, President [1861—1865].
In a letter to Joshua F. Speed [24 August 1855].


'A house divided against itself cannot stand.'

I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free.

I do not expect the Union to be dissolved -- I do not expect the house to fall -- but I do expect it will cease to be divided.

It will become all one thing or all the other.

--Abraham Lincoln (1809—1865)
American Republican statesman, President [1861—1865].
Speech at the Republican state convention nominating
him to run for U.S. senator, Springfied, Ill. [17 July 1858].


I have no purpose, either directly or indirectly, to
interfere with the institution of slavery in the States
where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to
do so, and I have no inclination to do so.
--Abraham Lincoln (1809—1865)
American Republican statesman, President [1861—1865].
In his first debate with Stephen Douglas,
Ottawa, Illinois [21 August 1858].


I am not, nor ever have been in favor of bringing about in any way the
social and political equality of the white and black races.... I am not nor
ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of
qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and
I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between
the white and black races which I believe will for ever forbid the two
races living together on terms of social and political equality. And
inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there
must be the position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other
man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white
race.
--Abraham Lincoln (1809—1865)
American Republican statesman, President [1861—1865].
Fourth Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Charleston, Ill. [18 September 1858].


[H]e who would be no slave must consent to have
no slave. Those who deny freedom to others deserve
it not for themselves, and under a just God they
cannot long retain it.
--Abraham Lincoln (1809—1865)
American Republican statesman, President [1861—1865].
Letter to Henry Pierce et al. [6 April 1859].


I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves
within said designated states and parts of states are,
and henceforward shall be, free; and that the executive
government of the United States, including the military
and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain
the freedom of said persons.
--Abraham Lincoln (1809—1865)
American Republican statesman, President [1861—1865].
In the Emancipation Proclamation [1 January 1863].


I am naturally antislavery. If slavery is not wrong,
nothing is wrong. I cannot remember when I did
not so think and feel.
--Abraham Lincoln (1809—1865)
American Republican statesman, President [1861—1865].
In a letter to A.G. Hodges [4 April 1864].

-

An ex-consul has been deliberately murdered by a
slave in his own home. None of his fellow-slaves
prevented or betrayed the murderer, though the
senatorial decree threatening the whole household
with execution still stands ... Exemplary punishment
always contains an element of injustice. But
individual wrongs are outweighed by the advantage
of the community.
--Gaius Cassius Longinus,
in M.J. Cohan and John Major {eds.} _History in Quotations_ [2004].
Cohan & Major note that:
When Pedanius Secundus, the city prefect, was murdered
by one of his slaves in AD 61 the ancient custom that all
household slaves should be executed was challenged by
the populace. In a debate in the senate Longinus won the
day with his arguments in favour of applying the full rigour
of the law. The crowd tried to prevent the execution from
being carried out, and detachments of soldiers had to be
brought in to ensure that the 400 slaves could be taken to
their execution.

They are slaves who fear to speak
For the fallen and the weak.
--James Russell Lowell (1819—1891)
American poet, critic, essayist, and diplomat.
"Stanzas on Freedom" [1843]

Some gentlemen may, indeed, object to the slave
trade as inhuman and impious; let us consider that
if our colonies are to be maintained and cultivated,
which can only be done by African Negroes, it is
surely better to supply ourselves with those labourers
in British bottoms, than purchase them through the
medium of French, Dutch or Danish factors.
--Temple Luttrell,
speech in House of Commons [23 May 1777]
in M.J. Cohan and John Major {eds.}
_History in Quotations_ [2004] p. 396.

Many politicians of our time are in the habit of laying it down as a self-evident
proposition, that no people ought to be free till they are fit to use their freedom.
The maxim is worthy of the fool in the old story, who resolved not to go into
the water till he learned to swim. If men are to wait for liberty till they become
wise and good in slavery, they may indeed wait forever.
--Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800—1859)
English politician and historian.
"John Milton"
_The Edinburgh Review_ [August 1825]

Direct slavery is just as much the pivot of bourgeois
industry as machinery, credits, etc. Without slavery
you have no cotton; without cotton you have no
modern industry. It is slavery that gave the colonies
their value; it is the colonies that created world trade,
and it is world trade that is the precondition of large-
scale industry. Without slavery, North America, the
most progressive of countries, would be transformed
into a patriarchal country. Wipe North America off the
map of the world, and you would have anarchy — the
complete decay of modern commerce and civilization.
Cause slavery to disappear and you will have wiped
America off the map of nations.
--Karl Marx (1818—1883)
German political philosopher.
_The Poverty of Philosophy_ [1847] pp.III-112

_

It is public opinion and knowledge that no end of
deception is practised and a thousand acts of robbery
and violence are committed in the course of bartering
and carrying off Negroes from their country
and bringing them to the Indies and to Spain ...
since the Portuguese and Spaniards pay so much
for a Negro, they go out to hunt one another without
the pretext of a war, as if they were deer. They
embark four and five hundred of them in a boat,
which sometimes, is not a cargo boat. The very
stench is enough to kill most of them, and, indeed,
very many die. The wonder is that 20 per cent of
them are not lost.
--Fray Tomas de Mercado
_Suma de tratos y contratos_ [written 1569, pub. 1587],
in M.J. Cohan and John Major {eds.}
_History in Quotations_ [2004] p. 392.
Cohan & Major add:
The Spanish Dominican friar did not question the institution
of slavery although he deplored the way it worked. He had
himself observed the horrifying conditions under which the
slaves were transported.

See:
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/documents/documents_p2.cfm?doc=198
_

I went to see the Turks' market, which they call a
bazaar and which is where the poor Christians
captured on Sicily, Malta and Gozo are sold to the
highest bidders. In accordance with ancient oriental
custom, slave dealers are allowed to parade their
captives quite naked to show that they have no
physical defects, and to have their eyes and teeth
inspected as if they were horses.
--Nicolas de Nicolay (1517—1583)
French traveler.
Referring to the slave market in Tripoli, North Africa,
quoted in M.J. Cohan and John Major {eds.}
_History in Quotations_ [2004] p. 262.

Ranaway, a negro woman and two children; a
few days before she went off, *I burnt her with
a hot iron*, on the left side of her face, I tried
to make the letter M.
--Micajah Ricks
Notice in the _North Carolina Raleigh Standard_ [18 July 1839].

Show me someone who isn't a slave. One man is slave to
lust, another to greed, another to ambition. And all of us
are slaves to hope and fear.
--Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 BC—65 A.D.)
Roman philosopher and poet.
_Letters_

All Government without the Consent of the
Governed is the very Definition of Slavery.
--Jonathan Swift (1667—1745)
Anglo-Irish poet and satirist.
"A Letter to the Whole People of Ireland" [13 October 1724]

-

When the Constitution of the United States was
framed and adopted ... [negroes] had for more than
a century before been regarded as beings ... altogether
unfit to associate with the white race, either in social
or political relations; and so far inferior that they
had no rights which the white man was bound to
respect; and that the negro might justly and lawfully
be reduced to slavery for his benefit ... The right of
property in a slave is distinctly and expressly
affirmed in the Constitution ... It is the opinion of
the court that the Act of Congress which prohibited
a citizen from holding and owning property of this
kind in the territory of the United States north of the
line therein mentioned, is not warranted by the
Constitution, and is therefore void.

--Roger B. Taney (1777—1864)
Fifth Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Decision in the Dred Scott case [7 March 1857],
in M.J. Cohan and John Major {eds.}
_History in Quotations_ [2004] p.585.
Cohan & Major add:
This momentous judgement annulled the Missouri
Compromise of 1820, whereby slavery was barred
north of latitude 36 degrees 30 minutes, and widened
the gulf between North and South.

-

I vividly remember seeing a dozen black men and women
chained to one another, once, and lying in a group on the
pavement, awaiting shipment to the Southern slave market.
Those were the saddest faces I have ever seen.
--Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835—1910)
American humorist, novelist, journalist, and river pilot.
_Autobiography_ [1924 ed.]

-

I never mean (unless some particular circumstance should
compel me to it) to possess another slave by purchase; it
being among my first wishes to see some plan adopted by
which slavery in this country may be abolished by slow,
sure, and imperceptible degrees.
--George Washington (1732—1799)
American general and commander-in-chief of the
colonial armies in the American Revolution [1775—1783]
and first president of the United States [1789—1797].
In a letter to John Francis Mercer [9 September 1786].


Upon the decease [of] my wife, it is my Will and
desire, th[at] all the Slaves which I hold in [my]
*own right,* shall receive their free[dom].
--George Washington (1732—1799)
American general and commander-in-chief of the
colonial armies in the American Revolution [1775—1783]
and first president of the United States [1789—1797].
In his Will [9 July 1790].

-

-----

manumit (verb) ['mζn-yu-mit]
To release from slavery or other unpleasant situation.

odalisque (noun) ['o-d(κ)-lisk]
A concubine in a harem, a female slave.


end page




SLEEP

.
.

see: "BED"
see: "DREAMS"
see: "NIGHT"
see: "REST"
see: "THE BODY" for other related links


-

The worst things:
To try to sleep and sleep not.
To wait for one who comes not.
To try to please and please not.
--Arabian Proverb

& see:

The worst things:
To have felt a love and not to have shown it,
To have had it all and not to have known it.
--Joy Huott

-

[Suggested epitaph for a movie star:]
She sleeps alone at last.
--Robert Benchley (1889—1945)
American humorist and newspaper columnist.
Quoted in Edmund Fuller _2500 Anecdotes for All Occasions_ [1943].

Without a wink of sleep.
--Miguel de Cervantes (1547—1616)
Spanish novelist.
_Don Quixote de la Mancha_ [1605—1615]
Pt. 1 [1605], bk. 2, ch. 4.

Early to bed and early to rise makes a
man healthy, wealthy and wise.
--John Clarke (1596—1658)
Comp. _Proverbs: English and Latine_ [1639]

Bed is a bundle of paradoxes; we go to it with reluctance,
yet we quit it with regret; and we make up our minds every
night to leave it early, but we make up our bodies every
morning to keep it late.
--C.C. Colton (1780—1832)
English clergyman and writer.
_Lacon: or, Many Things in Few Words_ [1865 ed.]

There is not pillow so soft as a clear conscience.
--French Proverb

To carry care to bed is to sleep with a pack on your back.
--Thomas C. Haliburton (1796—1865)
Canadian politician, judge, and writer who was best known
as the creator of the literary character, Sam Slick.
_Sam Slick's Wise Saws and Modern Instances_, vol. 2, p. 106 [2 vol., 1853]

One houres sleepe before midnight is worth three after.
--George Herbert (1593—1633)
English religious poet.
_Jacula Prudentum_ (Outlandish Proverbs) [1640]

A good laugh and a long sleep are
the best cures in the doctor's book.
--Irish proverb

I never sleep comfortably except when I am at sermon.
--Franηois Rabelais (c. 1494— c. 1553]
French humanist, satirist, and physician.
_Gargantua and Pantagruel_, bk. I, ch. XLI [c. 1548]

She slept the sleep of the just.
--Jean Racine (1639—1699)
French playwright.
_Abrιgι de l'histoire de Port-Royal_, vol IV [c. 1697]

Sleep, riches, and health, to be truly
enjoyed, must be interrupted.
--Jean Paul Richter (1763—1825)
German novelist.
_Flower, Fruit, and Thorn Pieces_ , ch. VIII.

Physicists and astronomers see their own implications in the world
being round, but to me it means that only one-third of the world is
asleep at any given time and the other two-thirds is up to something.
--Dean Rusk (1909—1994)
American politician.
Speech to the American Bar Association, Atlanta, Georgia [22 October 1964].

To all, to each! a fair good-night,
And pleasing dreams, and slumbers light.
--Sir Walter Scott (1771—1832)
Scottish novelist and poet.
_Marmion_, VI [1808]

-

To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause...
--William Shakespeare (1564—1616)
English dramatist.
_Hamlet_, III, i [1601]


PISANIO: I have not slept one wink.
--William Shakespeare (1564—1616)
English dramatist.
_Cymbeline_, III, iv [1609]

-

In winter I get up at night
And dress by yellow candle-light.
In summer, quite the other way,—
I have to go to bed by day.
--Robert Louis Stevenson (1850—1894)
Scottish essayist, poet, and novelist.
"Bed in Summer" [1885]

I'm going to the Land of Nod.
--Jonathan Swift (1667—1745)
Anglo-Irish poet and satirist.
_A Complete Collection of Polite and Ingenious
Conversation_ "Third Conversation" [1738]

Early to rise and early to bed makes a
male healthy and wealthy and dead.
--James Thurber (1894—1961)
American humorist and cartoonist.
"The Shrike and the Chipmunks"
In "New Yorker" [18 February 1939].

-

Some people count sheep, using numbers
To hasten and lengthen their slumbers,
But my nostrum entails
Just curvaceous females,
For I prefer figures to numbers.
--anon.

-----

hypnagogic [hip-nuh-GOJ-ik; -GOH-jik], adjective:
Of, pertaining to, or occurring in the state of
drowsiness preceding sleep.

somniferous [som-NIF-uhr-uhs], adjective:
Causing or inducing sleep.

soporific [sop-uh-RIF-ik; soh-puh-], adjective:
1. Causing sleep; tending to cause sleep.
2. Of, relating to, or characterized by sleepiness
or lethargy.

stertorous [STUR-tuh-ruhs], adjective:
Characterized by a heavy snoring or gasping sound;
hoarsely breathing.
Ex.: In the cinder-block motel room he set the alarm,
but his own stertorous breathing woke him before it rang.
--E. Annie Proulx, "The Half-Skinned Steer,"
_The Atlantic_ [November 1997]





SLOGANS

.
.

see: "CAPITALISM" for related links
see: "POLITICS" for related links


Fifty-Four Forty or Fight!
--William Allen (1803—1879)
Democratic Representative and Senator from the
U.S. state of Ohio, as well as Governor of Ohio.
In M.J. Cohan and John Major {eds.}
_History in Quotations_ [2004] p. 624.
Cohan & Major explain:
War-cry of Americans who wanted the entire Oregon Territory
in the Pacific Northwest, disputed between the United States
and Britain. Its notional northern boundary was latitude 54
degrees 40 minutes north, but in 1846 the US accepted the
compromise boundary of the 49th parallel, already established
as the frontier between the United States and Canada by an
Anglo-American treaty of 1818.

Burn, baby, burn!
--Black Panthers Party slogan [c. 1968].

I've got what it takes to take what you've got.
--James H. Boren (1925— )
American bureaucrat, professional speaker, and humorist.
Slogan while running for president in 1984.

-

Better dead than Red.
--Anti-Communist slogan.


Better Red than dead.
--Nuclear disarmament slogan of the late 1950s.

-

FOUR LEGS GOOD. TWO LEGS BAD.
--George Orwell [Eric Blair] (1903—1950)
English novelist.
_Animal Farm_, ch. 3 [1945]

-

Hell no. we won't go!
--Anti-Vietnam War slogan.


Hey, hey, LBJ, how many mkids did you kill today?
--Anti-Vietnam War slogan.

-

A rich man's war and a poor man's fight.
--Slogan of the protesters against conscription
in New York, [13 July 1863].
In M.J. Cohan and John Major {eds.}
_History in Quotations_ [2004].
Cohan & Major explain:
The phrase originated in the South in 1861. $300
bought exemption from the draft, introduced by
Lincoln in the summer to replenish the Union Army.

-

POLITICAL

Tippecanoe and Tyler too.
--Whig (Harrison-Tyler) campaign [1840].

As Maine goes, so goes the nation.
--Political saying [c. 1840s]

We Polked You in '44, We Shall
Pierce You in '52.
--Democratic (Pierce) campaign [1852]

Blaine, Blaine, James G. Blaine,
The Continental liar from the State of Maine.
--Political taunt used by the Democrats
during the presidential campaign of 1884.
(Blaine supporters responded with their own
taunt:
'Ma, Ma, where's my Pa?
Gone to the White House, ha, ha, ha.'
(Candidate Cleveland acknowledged that he
had fathered an illegitimate child - GBAQ.)

McKinley drinks soda water,
Bryan drinks rum,
McKinley is a gentleman,
Bryan is a bum.
--Republican (McKinley) campaign [1900].

A Chicken in Every Pot. A Car in Every Garage.
--Republican (Hoover) campaign [1928].

Prosperity Is Just Around the Corner.
--Republican campaign slogan [1932].

I Like Ike.
--Republican (Eisenhower) campaign [1952]

We're Madly For Adlai.
--Democratic (Stevenson) campaign [1956]

Would you buy a used car from this man?
--Slogan directed against Richard Nixon [1960].

All the way with LBJ.
--Democratic campaign slogan [1964].

-

ADVERTISING

Plop, plop, fizz, fizz. Oh what a relief it is.
--Alka-Seltzer

I can't believe I ate the whole thing.
--Alka-Seltzer

Mama Mia, that's a spicy meatball!
--Alka-Seltzer

Brylcreem — A little dab'll do ya.
--Brylcreem hair lotion

I'd walk a mile for a Camel.
--Camel cigarettes

That's what Campbell's soup is--Mmmm Mmmm Good!
--Campbell's Soup

See the USA in your Chevrolet!
--General Motors Corp.
(Commercial sung by Dinah Shore.)

When E.F. Hutton talks, people listen.
--E.F. Hutton brokerage

It keeps going, and going, and going ...
--Energizer batteries

When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight.
--Federal Express delivery service

Always a bridesmaid, never a bride...
--part of a 1920s advertisement for Listerine [invented in 1879 as surgical
antiseptic], for its newly invented use as a mouthwash against halitosis, in
Katherine Ashenburg, _The Dirt on Clean: An Unsanitized History_ [2007].

Believe me, Ovaltine's got what it takes
to help you be a leader in your gang.
--"Captain Midnight"
Radio serial from 1938 to 1949.
Ovaltine took over sponsorship in 1940.

Exhilarating, invigorating, aids digestion.
--Pepsi ad [1903]

We'd rather fight than switch!
--Tareyton cigarettes

It takes a licking and keeps on ticking.
--Timex watches

-

-----

shibboleth [SHIB-uh-lith; -leth], noun:
1. A peculiarity of pronunciation, behavior, mode
of dress, etc., that distinguishes a particular group
of persons.
2. A slogan; a catchword.
3. A common saying or belief with little current
meaning or truth.




Click picture to ZOOM
SMELL

.
.

see: "THE BODY"


Examples of this sweat-detection ability are
amazingly impressive ... Bloodhounds can
follow a trail that is as much as four days old
and track a subject for up to a hundred miles.
The scent from human feet is so strong to a
dog that it can identify individual feet even
in areas where many other feet have trodden,
and where shoes have been worn by all
concerned.
--Desmond Morris (b. 1928)
English anthropologist and author.
_Dogwatching_ [1993]

There is no odor so bad as that which
arises from goodness tainted.
--Henry David Thoreau (1817—1862)
American essayist, poet, and practical philosopher.

-

After my husband died I would go into his closet and hug
his suits, because they smelled of his own body odor, slight
cigarette smell, and aftershave. I'd stand there, hugging his
clothes, making believe, close my eyes, and cry.
--anon. in Avery N. Gilbert & Charles J. Wysocki
"The Smell Results" _National Geographic_ [October 1987].


The smell of kerosene brings back for me the memories
of reading by a kerosene light, the feeling of closeness
and safety and the shadows cast on the walls, the
laughter of a grandmother dead almost thirty years.
--anon. in Avery N. Gilbert & Charles J. Wysocki
"The Smell Results" _National Geographic_ [October 1987].

-

-----

ambrosial [am-BROH-zhuhl], adjective:
1. Exceptionally pleasing to taste or smell; especially delicious or fragrant.
2. Worthy of the gods; divine.

cacodylic (adj.) [kζ-kκ-'di-lik]
1. Belonging to the arsenic group of poisons.
2: Foul-smelling.
Etymology: Greek kakos "bad, ugly" + od from od-ein "to smell" + yl + ic. Kakos is
related to kakka, a common word floating about the Indo-European languages. The
English variant begins with "h" and has a diminutive ending. Also the source of
"poppycock" (from Dutch pap, possibly from Latin pappa "food" + kak "feces"),
not to mention "cacophony" (bad-sounding).

fetid [FET-id; FEE-tid], adjective:
Having an offensive smell; stinking.
Synonyms: malodor, reek, stench.
Ex.: He grew up between the river and the vineyard-
covered slopes, between the fetid smell of the tannery
and the fine aroma of crushed grapes.
--Patrice Debrι _Louis Pasteur_ (translated by Elborg Forster)

malodorous [mal-OH-duhr-uhs], adjective:
Having a bad odor.
Ex.: But people were accustomed to the odors of chamber pots and
outdoor privies and to the stench of manure on city streets as well
as in the country. Even the most refined could scarcely have been
squeamish about malodorous garbage.
--Susan Strasser, Waste and Want

mephitic [muh-FIT-ik], adjective:
1. Offensive to the smell; as, mephitic odors.
2. Poisonous; noxious.

odoriferous (adj.) [o-dκ-'ri-fκr-κs]
Having or emitting an odor or bad smell.
This word bears a pejorative connotation; the neutral term is "odorous."

olfactory [ol-FAK-tuh-ree; -tree; ohl-], adjective:
Of smell; having to do with smelling.
Ex.: Mr. Lichter's visitor inhaled the rich sour aroma of
the establishement and remarked upon its olfactory
munificence.
--Richard F. Shepard,
"Pickles, Peppers and Other Puckery Palate-Pleasers,"
_New York Times_, March 30, 1971

redolent [RED-uh-luhnt], adjective:
1. Having or exuding fragrance; scented; aromatic.
2. Full of fragrance; odorous; smelling (usually used
with 'of' or 'with').
3. Serving to bring to mind; evocative; suggestive;
reminiscent (usually used with 'of' or 'with').

sachet [sa-SHEY], noun:
1. A small bag, case, or pad containing perfuming powder
or the like, placed among handkerchiefs, etc., to impart
a pleasant scent.
2. Also, sachet powder, the powder contained in such a case.




Click picture to ZOOM
SMILES

.
.

see: "FACE"
see: "HUMOR"
see: "JOKES"
see: "LAUGHTER"
see: "HAPPINESS" for other related links


Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag
And smile, smile, smile.
While you've a lucifer to light your fag,
Smile boys, that's the style.
What's the use of worrying,
It never was worthwhile. So:
Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag
And smile, smile, smile.
--George Asaf [George H. Powell] (1880—1951)
British songwriter,
"Pack up your Troubles" [1915 song]
(Music by Felix Powell.)

I quickly laugh at everything, for
fear of having to cry.
--Pierre de Beaumarchais (1732—1799)
French playwright and adventurer.
_Le Barbier de Seville_ [1775]

A smile is the shortest distance between two people.
--attributed to Victor Borge [Berge Rosenbaum] (1909—2000)
Danish-born American humorist, entertainer, and pianist.

[Of autumn:]
The year's last, loveliest smile.
--John H. Bryant (1807—?)
American poet; brother of William Cullen Bryant.
"The Indian Summer"

Smile! You're on Candid Camera!
--Television catchphrase
"Candid Camera"

If a man smiles all the time, he's probably
selling something that doesn't work.
--George Carlin (1937—2008)
American stand-up comedian and author.
_Brain Droppings_ [1997]

She gave me a smile I could feel in my hip pocket.
--Raymond Chandler (1888—1959)
American writer of detective fiction.
_Farewell, My Lovely_, ch. 18 [1940]

-

Hey, hobo man
Hey, Dapper Dan
You've both got your style
But Brother,
You're never fully dressed
Without a smile!

Your clothes may be
Beau Brummelly
They stand out a mile —
But Brother,
You're never fully dressed
Without a smile!

Who cares what they're wearing
On Main Street,
Or Saville Row,
It's what you wear from ear to ear
And not from head to toe
(That matters)

--Martin Charnin (1934— )
American lyricist, writer, and composer.
"You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile"

-

We should tackle reality in a slightly joky
way, otherwise we miss the point.
--Lawrence Durrell (1912—1990)
British novelist and poet.

No matter how grouchy you're feeling,
You'll find the smile more or less healing.
It grows in a wreath
All around the front teeth—
Thus preserving the face from congealing.
--Anthony Euwer (1877—1955)
American author.

Start every day with a smile and get it over with.
--attributed to W. C. Fields [William Claude Dukenfield]
(1880—1946) American vaudeville star and film actor.

No, but I was only there nine years.
--former Dallas Cowboy running
back Walt Garrison, on whether
he had ever seen Coach Landry
smile.
(Tom Landry (1924—2000)
Coach of Dallas Cowboys [1960—1988].)

When Grandmama fell off the boat,
And couldn't swim (and wouldn't float),
Matilda just stood by and smiled.
I almost could have slapped the child.
--Harry Graham (1874—1936)
British writer and journalist.

A woman has two smiles that an angel might
envy — the smile that accepts a lover before
words are uttered, and the smile that lights
on the first-born babe, and assures it of a
mother's love.
--Thomas C. Haliburton (1796—1865)
Canadian politician, judge, and writer who was best known
as the creator of the literary character, Sam Slick.

A smile costs nothing, but gives much. It
enriches those who receive, without making
poorer those who give. It takes but a moment,
but the memory of it sometimes lasts forever.
None is so rich or mighty that he can get along
without it, and none is so poor but that he can
be made rich by it. A smile creates happiness
in the home, fosters good will in business, and
is the countersign of friendship. It brings rest
to the weary, cheer to the discouraged, sunshine
to the sad, and is nature's best antidote for
trouble. Yet it cannot be bought, begged, borrowed,
or stolen, for it is something that is of no value
to anyone until it is given away. Some people are
too tired to give you a smile. Give them one of
yours, as none needs a smile so much as he who
has no more to give.
--Based on the writings of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch
(1808—1888) Religious philosopher.

If anyone believes that our smiles involve abandonment
of the teaching of Marx, Engels and Lenin, he deceives
himself. Those who wait for that must wait until a shrimp
learns to whistle.
--Nikita Khrushchev (1894—1971)
Soviet statesman, Premier [1958—1964].
(On the likelihood of the Soviet Union rejecting communism,
speech in Moscow [17 September 1955].)

They gave each other a smile with a future in it.
--attributed to Ring Lardner [Ringgold Wilmer Lardner] (1885—1933)
American writer and satirist.

A smile is the chosen vehicle for all ambiguities.
--Herman Melville (1819—1891)
American novelist and poet.
_Pierre_ [1852], Book IV

I give you now Professor Twist,
A conscientious scientist.
Trustees exclaimed, "He never bungles!"
And sent him off to distant jungles.
Camped on a tropic riverside,
One day he missed his loving bride.
She had, the guide informed him later,
Been eaten by an alligator.
Professor Twist could not but smile.
"You mean," he said, "a crocodile."
--Ogden Nash (1902—1971)
American writer of humorous poetry.

Beauty is power; a smile is its sword.
--Charles Reade (1814—1884)
English novelist and playwright.
_White Lies_ [1860]

O Villain, villain, smiling damned villain! . . .
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain;
At least I am sure it may be so in Denmark.
--William Shakespeare (1564—1616)
English dramatist.
_Hamlet_ [1600—1601], Act I, Scene 5, Line 106

If I can make people smile, then I
have served my purpose for God.
--Red [Richard Bernard] Skelton (1913—1997)
American comedian.

Wrinkles should merely indicate where
smiles have been.
--Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835—1910)
American humorist, novelist, journalist, and river pilot.

Tis easy enough to be pleasant,
When life flows along like a song;
But the man worth while is the one who will smile
When everything does dead wrong.
For the test of the heart is trouble,
And it always comes with the years,
But the smile that is worth the praise of earth
Is the smile that comes through tears.
--Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850—1919)
American author and poet.
"Worth While"

Life is too important a thing ever
to talk seriously about.
--Oscar Wilde (1854—1900)
Anglo-Irish dramatist and poet.

When you call me that, smile!
--Owen Wister (1860—1938)
American writer of western novels.
_The Virginian_ [1902], ch. 2

-

Archimedes, the early truth-seeker,
Leapt out of his bath, cried "Eureka!"
And ran half a mile,
Wearing only a smile,
Thus becoming the very first streaker.
--anon.

Let others cheer the winning man,
There's one I hold worth while;
'Tis he who does the best he can,
Then loses with a smile.
Beaten he is, but not to stay
Down with the rank and file;
That man will win some other day,
Who loses with a smile.
--anon.

-----

effulgence (noun)
Brightness or a brilliant light radiating
from something (literary)

refulgent (adj.)
Shining brightly; radiant; brilliant; resplendent.
If Moore was not quite a burned-out case, his once
refulgent light flickered only dimly in his sad last years.
--Martin Filler, "The Spirit of '76,"
_New Republic_, [9 July 2001]


end page





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