Bartlett’s Familiar Black Quotations
The Song of the Harper1,2
c. 2650–2600 B.C.
There is no one who can return from there,
To describe their nature, to describe their dissolution,
That he may still our desires,
Until we reach the place where they have gone.
St. 5
Remember: it is not given to man to take his goods with him.
No one goes away and then comes back.
St. 10
Ptahhotep
Twenty-fourth century B.C.
Teach him what has been said in the past; then he will set a good example to the children of the magistrates, and judgment and all exactitude shall enter into him. Speak to him, for there is none born wise.
The Maxims of Ptahhotep [c. 2350 B.C.],3 introduction
Do not be arrogant because of your knowledge, but confer with the ignorant man as with the learned.… Good speech is more hidden than malachite, yet it is found in the possession of women slaves at the millstones.
The Maxims of Ptahhotep, 1
Truth is great and its effectiveness endures.
The Maxims of Ptahhotep, 5
Follow your desire as long as you live and do not perform more than is ordered; do not lessen the time of following desire, for the wasting of time is an abomination to the spirit.… When riches are gained, follow desire, for riches will not profit if one is sluggish.
The Maxims of Ptahhotep, 11
One who is serious all day will never have a good time, while one who is frivolous all day will never establish a household.
The Maxims of Ptahhotep, 25
Be cheerful while you are alive.
The Maxims of Ptahhotep, 34
The Teaching for Merikare1
c. 2135–2040 B.C.
Be skillful in speech, that you may be strong; […] it is the strength of […] the tongue, and words are braver than all fighting; a wise man is a school for the magnates, and those who are aware of his knowledge do not attack him.
Parable 4
Do justice, that you may live long upon earth. Calm the weeper, do not oppress the widow, do not oust a man from his father’s property, do not degrade magnates from their seats. Beware of punishing wrongfully; do not kill, for it will not profit you.
Parable 8
Instill the love of you into all the world, for a good character is what is remembered.
Parable 24
The Book of the Dead
c. 1700–1000 B.C.
Hail to you gods
On that day of the great reckoning.
Behold me, I have come to you,
Without sin, without guilt, without evil,
Without a witness against me,
Without one whom I have wronged…
Rescue me, protect me,
Do not accuse me before the great god!
I am one pure of mouth, pure of hands.
The Address to the Gods2
As for him who knows this book on earth, he shall come out into the day, he shall walk on earth among the living, and his name shall not perish forever.
Theban Recension, ch. 703
The bright Eye of Horus comes, the glorious Eye of Horus comes; welcome, O you who shine like Re in the horizon. It drives off the powers of Seth from upon the feet of Him who brings it. It is Seth who would take possession of it, but its heat is against him; the torch comes. When will it arrive? It comes now, traversing the sky behind Re on the hands of your two sisters, O Re. Live, live, O Eye of Horus within the Great Hall! Live, live, O Eye of Horus, for he is the Pillar-of-his-Mother priest.
Chapter for kindling a torch for N1
Love Songs of the New Kingdom2
c. 1550–1080 B.C.
My love for you is mixed throughout
my body
So hurry to see your lady,
like a stallion on the track,
or like a falcon swooping down to its
papyrus marsh.
Heaven sends down the love of her
as a flame falls in the hay.
Song no. 2
The voice of the wild goose,
caught by the bait, cries out.
Love of you holds me back,
and I can’t loosen it at all…
I did not set my traps today;
love of you has thus entrapped me.
Song no. 10
Sweet pomegranate wine in my mouth
is bitter as the gall of birds.
But your embraces
alone give life to my heart;
may Amun give me what I have found
for all eternity.
Song no. 12
The voice of the turtledove speaks out. It says:
Day breaks, which way are you going?
Lay off, little bird,
must you so scold me?
I found my lover on his bed,
and my heart was sweet to excess.
Song no. 14
Hatshepsut
Fifteenth century B.C.
d. 1468 B.C.
I have made bright the truth.… I eat of its brightness.… My fame makes the great ones of the countries to bow down.
Obelisk engraving1
My command stands firm like the mountains, and the sun’s disk shines and spreads rays over the titulary of my august person, and my falcon rises high above the kingly banners unto all eternity.
Obelisk engraving2
Now my heart turns this way and that, as I think what the people will say. Those who shall see my monuments in years to come, and who shall speak of what I have done.
Obelisk engraving3
Suti and Hor4
Fifteenth–fourteenth centuries B.C.
Creator uncreated.
Sole one, unique one, who traverses eternity,
Remote one, with millions under his care;
Your splendor is like heaven’s splendor.
First Hymn to the Sun God
Beneficent mother of gods and men
Valiant shepherd who drives his flock,
Their refuge, made to sustain them…
He makes the seasons with the months,
Heat as he wishes, cold as he wishes…
Every land rejoices at his rising,
Every day gives praise to him.
Second Hymn to the Sun God
The Great Hymn to the Aten5
c. 1350 B.C.
Splendid you rise in heaven’s lightland,
O living Aten, creator of life!
St. 1
When you set in western lightland,
Earth is in darkness as if in death.
St. 2
Every lion comes from its den,
All the serpents bite;
Darkness hovers, earth is silent,
As their maker rests in lightland.
Earth brightens when you dawn in lightland,
When you shine as Aten of daytime;
As you dispel the dark,
As you cast your rays,
The Two Lands are in festivity.
Awake they stand on their feet,
You have roused them.
St. 2, 3
The entire land sets out to work,
All beasts browse on their herbs;
Trees, herbs are sprouting,
Birds fly from their nests
Ships fare north, fare south as well,
Roads lie open when you rise;
The fish in the river dart before you,
Your rays are in the midst of the sea.
St. 3
How many are your deeds,
Though hidden from sight,
O Sole God beside whom there is none!
You made the earth as you wished, you alone.
St. 5
The Holy Bible1
The Old Testament2
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.
And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
And God said, Let there be light:3 and there was light.
The First Book of Moses, Called Genesis, ch. 1, verses 1–3
And God saw that it was good.
1:10
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.
1:26
Male and female created he them.
1:27
Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
1:28
And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made.
2:2
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
2:7
And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden.
2:8
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
2:17
It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
2:18
And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof.
And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman.
2:21–22
Bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.
2:23
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
2:24–25
Your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
3:5
And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.
3:7–8
The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
3:12
What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.
3:13–14
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.
3:19–20
So he drove out the man: and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
3:24
And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
4:2
Am I my brother’s keeper?
4:9
The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.
4:10
My punishment is greater than I can bear.
4:13
And the Lord said unto him, Therefore whoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him.
4:15
And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years.
5:27
There were giants in the earth in those days, mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
6:4
And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark.
6:19
And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
7:12
And, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off.
8:11
Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.
9:6
And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.
9:24
And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
9:25
And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
9:26
God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
9:27
Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth.
11:9
Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom.
13:12
In a good old age.
15:15
Thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.
17:5
My Lord, if now I have found favor in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant.
18:3
But his [Lot’s] wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
19:26
My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering.
22:8
He [Jacob] dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.
28:12
Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not.
28:16
This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.
28:17
And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.
32:24
I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.
32:26
Behold, this dreamer cometh.
37:19
They stript Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colors.
37:23
The Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand.
39:3
God forbid.
44:7
And ye shall eat the fat of the land.
45:18
I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord.
49:18
Unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills.
49:26
Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.
I have been a stranger in a strange land.
2:22
Behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.
3:2
Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.
3:5
A land flowing with milk and honey.
3:8
And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM.
3:14
Let my people go.
5:1
Thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall become a serpent.
7:9
They [Pharaoh’s wise men] cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods.
And he hardened Pharaoh’s heart.
7:12–13
This is the finger of God.
8:19
Yet will I bring one plague more upon Pharaoh, and upon Egypt.
11:1
And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
12:8
And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the Lord’s passover.
For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord.
12:11–12
This day [Passover] shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations.
12:14
Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread.
12:15
There was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead.
12:30
Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
13:3
And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light.
13:21
And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.
14:22
I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.
The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation.
15:1–2
Thy right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy.
15:6
It is manna.
16:15
I am the Lord thy God.
20:21
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.
20:3–4
For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
20:5–7
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work:
But the seventh day… thou shalt not do any work.
20:8–10
Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
Thou shalt not kill.
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor’s.
20:12–17
Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
21:24
Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way.
23:20
Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.
33:20
And he [Moses] was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.
34:28
Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is cloven-footed, and cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that shall ye eat.
Let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.
16:10
And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest.
And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger.
19:9–10
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.1
19:18
The Lord bless thee, and keep thee:
The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
The Fourth Book of Moses,
Called Numbers 6:24–26
Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly.
20:11
He whom thou blessest is blessed.
22:6
What hath God wrought!
23:23
How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel!
24:5
Be sure your sin will find you out.
32:23
I call heaven and earth to witness.
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord.
6:4
The Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself.
7:6
Man doth not live by bread only,2 but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.
8:3
A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey;
A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.
8:8–9
The poor shall never cease out of the land.
15:11
And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations.
28:37
He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth.
32:4
As thy days, so shall thy strength be.
33:25
The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.
33:27
And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan.
The Book of Joshua 3:17
Mighty men of valor.
6:2
And it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city [Jericho].
6:20
Hewers of wood and drawers of water.
9:21
I am going the way of all the earth.
23:14
They shall be as thorns in your sides.
I Deborah arose… I arose a mother in Israel.
5:7
Awake, awake, Deborah: awake, awake, utter a song: arise, Barak, and lead thy captivity captive.
5:12
The Philistines be upon thee, Samson.
16:9
The Philistines took him [Samson], and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house.
16:21
So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life.
16:30
All the people arose as one man.
20:8
In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
21:25
Whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.
The Book of Ruth 1:16
Let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.
2:7
The Lord called Samuel: and he answered, Here am I.
3:4
Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth.
3:9
God save the king.
10:24
A man after his own heart.
13:14
Every man’s sword was against his fellow.
14:20
For the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.
16:7
Go, and the Lord be with thee.
17:37
And he [David] chose him five smooth stones out of the brook.
17:40
So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone.
17:50
Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.
18:7
And Jonathan loved him [David] as he loved his own soul.
20:17
Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked.
24:13
I have played the fool.
26:21
Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not divided: they were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions.
How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle!
1:25
Thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.
How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished!
1:26–27
Abner… smote him under the fifth rib.
2:23
And David and all the house of Israel played before the Lord on all manner of instruments made of fir wood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals.
6:5
David danced before the Lord.
6:14
Thou art the man.
12:7
Would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!
18:33
The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer.
22:2
A wise and an understanding heart.
The wisdom of Solomon.
4:34
When the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon she came to prove him with hard questions.
10:1
There appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
The chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more.
2:12
He [Elisha] took up also the mantle of Elijah.
2:13
What hast thou to do with peace? Turn thee behind me.
9:18
Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her face, and tired her head, and looked out at a window.
9:30
Set thine house in order.
20:1
His mercy endureth for ever.
Our days on the earth are as a shadow.
29:15
He [David] died in a good old age, full of days, riches, and honor.
29:28
Thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness.
The Book of Nehemiah 9:17
The man whom the king delighteth to honor.
One that feared God, and eschewed evil.
The Book of Job 1:1
Satan came also.
1:6
And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.
1:7
And I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
1:15
Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.
1:21
Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.
2:4
Who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off?
4:7
Fear came upon me, and trembling.
4:14
Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up.
4:15
Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker?
4:17
Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.
5:7
How forcible are right words!
6:25
But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee:
Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee; and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.
12:7–8
But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?
14:10
If a man die, shall he live again?
14:14
My days are past.
17:11
I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.
19:20
Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book!
19:23
Seeing the root of the matter is found in me.
19:28
The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered.
24:20
But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding?
28:12
The land of the living.
28:13
The price of wisdom is above rubies.
28:18
I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame.
29:15
Great men are not always wise.
32:9
One among a thousand.
33:23
Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength, because of thine enemies; that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.
When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels.
The Book of Psalms 8:2–5
How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord?
13:1
The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.
14:1 and 53:1
The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.
16:6
Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings.
17:8
He rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind.
18:10
The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
19:9–10
Cleanse thou me from secret faults.
19:12
Thou hast given him his heart’s desire.
21:2
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
22:1
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
23
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
27:1
The Lord is my strength and my shield.
28:7
Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.
30:5
I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel.
31:12
Be still, and know that I am God.
46:10
Every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.
50:10
I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
51:5
Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest.
55:6
Thou crownest the year with thy goodness.
65:11
Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands.
66:1
We went through fire and through water.
66:12
Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God.
68:31
His enemies shall lick the dust.
72:9
His name shall endure for ever.
72:17
A stubborn and rebellious generation.
78:8
But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.
82:7
How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts!
84:1
They go from strength to strength.
84:7
Lord, why castest thou off my soul? why hidest thou thy face from me?
88:14
Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.
For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.
Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up.
In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.
90:1–6
We spend our years as a tale that is told.
90:9
So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
90:12
Establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.
90:17
My days are consumed like smoke.
102:3
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
111:10
From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the Lord’s name is to be praised.
113:3
They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not.
They have ears, but they hear not.
115:5–6
The darkness and the light are both alike to thee.
139:12
I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
139:14
Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.
145:16
Put not your trust in princes.
146:3
He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names.
147:4
To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
The Proverbs 1:4
Be not afraid of sudden fear.
3:25
Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.
4:7
He that trusteth in his riches shall fall.
11:28
He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind.
11:29
A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.
12:10
He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.
13:24
Before honor is humility.
15:33 and 18:12
Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.
16:18
A fool’s mouth is his destruction.
18:7
Wealth maketh many friends.
19:4
Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging.
20:1
The borrower is servant to the lender.
22:7
Rob not the poor, because he is poor: neither oppress the afflicted in the gate.
22:22
As he thinketh in his heart, so is he.
23:7
If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.
24:10
Answer a fool according to his folly.
26:5
Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.
27:1
Better is a neighbor that is near than a brother far off.
27:10
He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack.
28:27
Where there is no vision, the people perish.
29:18
Give me neither poverty nor riches.
30:8
Strength and honor are her clothing.
31:25
All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full.
The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
1:9
There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after.
1:11
In much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.
1:18
One event happeneth to them all.
2:14
How dieth the wise man? as the fool.
2:16
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
3:1–8
As he came forth of his mother’s womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labor, which he may carry away in his hand.
5:15
A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth.
7:1
The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.
7:4
Be not righteous over much.
7:16
There is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.
7:20
One man among a thousand have I found; but a woman among all those have I not found.
7:28
There is no discharge in that war.
8:8
A man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry.
8:15
I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.
For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.
9:11–12
Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.
11:1
Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;
While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain:
In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened,
And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of music shall be brought low.
12:1–4
Of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
12:12–14
The song of songs, which is Solomon’s.
I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.
1:5
O thou fairest among women.
1:8
I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.
2:1
His banner over me was love.
Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love.
2:4–5
Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.
2:15
How much better is thy love than wine!
4:10
Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.
4:16
His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.
5:16
Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?
6:10
Thy neck is as a tower of ivory.
7:4
I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me.
7:10
Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave.
8:6
Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it.
8:7
The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
Come now, and let us reason together… though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.
1:17–18
They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.1
2:4
Then said I, Lord, how long?
6:11
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end.
9:6–7
The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters.
17:13
The burden of the desert of the sea. As whirlwinds in the south pass through; so it cometh from the desert, from a terrible land.
21:1
Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground.
21:9
Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we shall die.
22:13
I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place.
22:23
As with the maid, so with her mistress.
24:2
He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces.
25:8
Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust.
26:19
Hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.
26:20
The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
40:2–3
Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain.
40:4
He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.
40:11
The nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance.
40:15
There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked.
48:22
They shall see eye to eye.
52:8
He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter.
53:7
Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people.
55:4
Peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near.
57:19
Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.
60:1
A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation.
60:22
I am holier than thou.
65:5
Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not.
Saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
6:14 and 8:11
Amend your ways and your doings.
7:3 and 26:13
The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.
8:20
Is there no balm in Gilead?
8:22
Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?
13:23
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
17:9
With my whole heart and with my whole soul.
32:41
How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow!
As is the mother, so is her daughter.
The king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way.
21:21
The valley was full of bones
and lo, they were very dry.
37:1–2
Can these bones live?
37:3
O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.
37:4
Every man’s sword shall be against his brother.
38:21
His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.
The Book of Daniel 2:33
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
3:23
Ye are the sons of the living God.
Hosea 1:10
Like people, like priest.
4:9
After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.
6:2
He shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.
6:3
For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
6:6
They have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.
8:7
Your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.
Joel 2:28
They sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes.
Amos 2:6
Can two walk together, except they be agreed?
3:3
And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Jonah 1:17
What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
Micah 6:8
I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heaven.
Zechariah 2:6
Prisoners of hope.
9:12
So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.
11:12
What are these wounds in thine hands? Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.
13:6
Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us?
Malachi 2:10
Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me.
3:1
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
4:5
The Apocrypha1
Great is Truth, and mighty above all things.
I Esdras 24:41
Put on her garments of gladness.
Judith 10:3
The ear of jealousy heareth all things.
Our time is a very shadow that passeth away.
2:5
For God created man to be immortal, and made him to be an image of his own eternity.
Nevertheless through envy of the devil came death into the world.
2:23–24
Even so we in like manner, as soon as we were born, began to draw to our end.
5:13
Profess not the knowledge that thou hast not.
A stubborn heart shall fare evil at the last.
3:25–26
Wisdom exalteth her children, and layeth hold of them that seek her.
He that loveth her loveth life.
Ecclesiasticus 4:11–12
Observe the opportunity.
4:20
A faithful friend is the medicine of life.
6:16
Miss not the discourse of the elders.
8:9
So is a word better than a gift.
18:16
Many have fallen by the edge of the sword: but not so many as have fallen by the tongue.
28:18
Let the counsel of thine own heart stand.
37:13
Let us now praise famous men, and our fathers that begat us.
44:1
When he was at the last gasp.
The New Testament1
Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.
2:1–2
They saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and they… presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.
And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.
2:11–12
Out of Egypt have I called my son.
2:15
Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.
2:18
He shall be called a Nazarene.
2:23
Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
3:2
The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
3:3
And his meat was locusts and wild honey.
3:4
The Spirit of God descending like a dove.
3:16
This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
3:17
And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
4:2
Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
4:19
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’s sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
5:3–11
Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted?
5:13
Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off.
5:28–30
Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.
5:44
After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.1
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
6:9–13
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
6:24
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin.
6:28
Judge not, that ye be not judged.
7:1
Neither cast ye your pearls before swine.
7:6
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
7:7
Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.2
7:12
Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?
7:9
Wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
7:13–14
Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
7:15
[The house] fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
7:25
A foolish man, which built his house upon the sand.
7:26
Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.
8:22
Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?
8:26
Freely ye have received, freely give.
10:8
Whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.
10:14
Ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake.
10:22
The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.
10:24
He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
11:15
The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.
11:19
Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
11:28–30
He that is not with me is against me.
12:30
The tree is known by his fruit.
12:33
Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
12:34
Some seeds fell by the way side.
13:4
Because they had no root, they withered away.
13:6
The care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches.
13:22
The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed.
13:31
The kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind.
13:47
Is not this the carpenter’s son?
13:55
A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country.
13:57
Give me here John Baptist’s head in a charger.
14:8
We have here but five loaves, and two fishes.
14:17
And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full.
14:20
And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.
14:25
Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.
14:27
Of a truth thou art the Son of God.
14:33
They be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.
15:14
The dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.
15:27
When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red.
16:2
The signs of the times.
16:3
Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
16:16
Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven.
16:18–19
Get thee behind me, Satan.
16:23
Whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
16:25–26
Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
18:20
Until seventy times seven.
18:22
What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
19:6
It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
19:24
Many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.
19:30
Borne the burden and heat of the day.
20:12
Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?
20:15
Overthrew the tables of the moneychangers.
21:12
My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.
21:13
They made light of it.
22:5
Many are called, but few are chosen.
22:14
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.1
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
22:37–40
Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
23:12
Ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
For nation shall rise against nation.
24:6–7
And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet.
24:31
Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
24:35
The one shall be taken, and the other left.
24:40
Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.
25:1–2
Well done, thou good and faithful servant… enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
25:21
Unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.
25:29
And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats.
25:32
For I was hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
25:35–36
Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
25:40
For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always.
26:11
What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver.
26:15
My time is at hand.
26:18
Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.
26:21
And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I?
26:22
It had been good for that man [Judas] if he had not been born.
26:24
Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.
And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;
For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.
26:26–29
This night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me [Jesus] thrice.
26:34
O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.
26:39
Could ye not watch with me one hour?
Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
26:40–41
Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
26:45
He came to Jesus, and said, Hail, Master; and kissed him.
26:49
All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.
26:52
The potter’s field, to bury strangers in.
27:7
Have thou nothing to do with that just man.
27:19
Let him be crucified.
27:22
[Pilate] took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.
27:24
His blood be on us, and on our children.
27:25
This is Jesus the King of the Jews.
27:37
Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?1
27:46
His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow.
28:3
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
28:19
Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.
28:20
There cometh one mightier than I2 after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.
Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk.
2:9
The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath.
2:27
If a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.
3:25
What manner of man is this?
4:41
My name is Legion: for we are many.
5:9
Clothed, and in his right mind.
5:15
I see men as trees, walking.
8:24
Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of God.
10:14
He is risen.
16:6
Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
16:15
Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
For with God nothing shall be impossible.
1:37
Blessed is the fruit of thy womb.
1:42
My soul doth magnify the Lord.
1:46
He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.
1:51–52
He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.
1:53
As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began:
That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us.
1:70–71
Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us,
And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
2:7
There were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.
2:8–11
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
2:14
Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace.
2:29
Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.
2:52
[The devil] showed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
4:5
For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee:
And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
4:10–11
Physician, heal thyself.
4:23
Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you!
6:26
Nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest.
8:17
Peace be to this house.
10:5
I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.
10:18
Many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.
10:24
A certain Samaritan had compassion on him.
10:33
Go, and do thou likewise.
10:37
But Martha was cumbered about much serving.
10:40
But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.
10:42
Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning.
12:35
For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.
12:48
Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.
15:6
[The prodigal son] wasted his substance with riotous living.
15:13
Bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it.
15:23
For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.
15:24
Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.
15:31
He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.
16:10
Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed.
16:26
The kingdom of God is within you.
17:21
Remember Lot’s wife.
17:32
If these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.
19:40
He is not a God of the dead, but of the living.
20:38
This do in remembrance of me.
22:19
Not my will, but thine, be done.
22:42
The place, which is called Calvary.
23:33
Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.
23:34
Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
23:42
Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.
23:43
Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.
23:46
He gave up the ghost.
23:46
He was a good man, and a just.
23:50
Their words seemed to them as idle tales.
24:11
Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us?
24:32
The Lord is risen indeed.
24:34
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
1:6
The true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
1:9
The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us full of grace and truth.
1:14
No man hath seen God at any time.
1:18
Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
1:29
Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?
1:46
Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.
1:51
Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.
2:4
The water that was made wine.
2:9
Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
3:3
The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
3:8
How can these things be?
3:9
God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
3:16
He was a burning and a shining light.
5:35
Search the scriptures.
5:39
What are they among so many?
6:9
Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.
6:12
I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
6:35
It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing.
6:63
Never man spake like this man.
7:46
He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
8:7
Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
8:11
The truth shall make you free.
8:32
Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.
9:25
I am the door.
10:9
I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
10:11
Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold.
10:16
I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
11:25–26
Jesus wept.
11:35
A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another.
13:34
Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
14:1–2
I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
14:3
I am the way, the truth, and the life.
14:6
I will not leave you comfortless.
14:18
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
14:27
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
15:13
Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you.
15:16
Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.
16:24
Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
16:33
Pilate saith unto him, What is truth?
18:38
Behold the man!1
19:5
Woman, behold thy son!
19:26
It is finished.
19:30
Touch me not.2
20:17
Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.
20:29
Suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind.
There appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues.
2:3–4
Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee.
3:6
And distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.
4:35
Thy money perish with thee.
8:20
He is a chosen vessel unto me.
9:15
God is no respecter of persons.
10:34
God that made the world, and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth.
17:24–26
It is more blessed to give than to receive.
20:35
And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, But I was free born.
22:28
God shall smite thee, thou whited wall.
23:3
Revilest thou God’s high priest?
23:4
I [Paul] am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee.
23:6
A conscience void of offense toward God, and toward men.
24:16
When I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.
24:25
I am not mad but speak forth the words of truth and soberness.
26:25
For this thing was not done in a corner.
26:26
Wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself.
These, having not the law, are a law unto themselves.
2:14
The things that are more excellent.
2:18
Who against hope believed in hope.
4:18
Death hath no more dominion over him.
6:9
I speak after the manner of men.
6:19
The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life.
6:23
The good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
7:19
Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
7:24
Heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.
8:17
If God be for us, who can be against us?
8:31
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
8:35
Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
8:38–39
Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love.
12:10
Given to hospitality.
12:13
Be not wise in your own conceits.
Recompense to no man evil for evil.
12:16–17
If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.
12:18
Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
12:19
Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
12:21
Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor.
Owe no man anything, but to love one another.
13:7–8
Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
14:5
We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
15:1
God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.
The First Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians 1:27
Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
3:13
For the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
3:17
We are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.
4:9
Absent in body, but present in spirit.
5:3
For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.
5:7
The fashion of this world passeth away.
7:31
Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.
8:1
I am made all things to all men.
9:22
Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize?
9:24
All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient.
10:23
Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
11:24
This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.
11:25
Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
13:4–8
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
13:9–13
If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?
14:8
Let all things be done decently and in order.
14:40
And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.
For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
But by the grace of God I am what I am.
15:8–10
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept.
For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
15:20–22
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
15:26
Evil communications corrupt good manners.
15:33
Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
15:51–53
Death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
15:54–55
Not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
The Second Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians 3:6
We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed.
4:8–9
We walk by faith, not by sight.
5:7
Now is the accepted time.
6:2
As having nothing, and yet possessing all things.
6:10
Though I be rude in speech.
11:6
For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise.
11:19
My strength is made perfect in weakness.
12:9
The right hands of fellowship.
Weak and beggarly elements.
4:9
It is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing.
4:18
Ye are fallen from grace.
5:4
Every man shall bear his own burden.
6:5
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
6:7
To be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man.
Carried about with every wind of doctrine.
4:14
Put on the whole armor of God.
6:11
To live is Christ, and to die is gain.
Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
4:8
By him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible all things were created by him, and for him:
And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
3:2
Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.
3:11
Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.
3:21
Luke, the beloved physician.
4:14
Labor of love.
The First Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Thessalonians 1:3
The day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
5:2
Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
5:5
Pray without ceasing.
5:17
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
5:21
The law is good, if a man use it lawfully.
Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron.
4:2
Every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving.
4:4
Let them learn first to show piety at home.
5:4
We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
6:7
The love of money is the root of all evil.
6:10
Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life.
6:12
Rich in good works.
6:18
A workman that needeth not to be ashamed.
I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.
4:7
The Lord reward him according to his works.
4:14
Unto the pure all things are pure.
Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.
The word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
4:12
Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
11:1
Let brotherly love continue.
Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
13:1–2
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
13:8
For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.
13:14
Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life.
Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only.
1:22
As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
2:26
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
4:7
Ye have heard of the patience of Job.
5:11
Hope to the end.
Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.
2:17
Charity shall cover the multitude of sins.
4:8
A crown of glory that fadeth not away.
5:4
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.
5:8
And the day star arise in your hearts.
God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
2:1–2
He that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God is love.
4:8
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear.
4:18
I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.
And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks.
1:12
His feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.
1:15
When I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead.
1:17
To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life.
2:7
Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
2:10
I will give him the morning star.
2:28
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock.
3:20
The first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.
And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.
4:7–8
Thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
4:11
A book sealed with seven seals.
5:1
He went forth conquering, and to conquer.
6:2
Behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.
6:8
Four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth.
7:1
Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees.
7:3
All nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues.
7:9
These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the lamb.
7:14
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.
7:16
The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ.
11:15
There was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
And prevailed not.
12:7–8
The great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world.
12:9
No man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast.
13:17
The voice of many waters.
14:2
Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city.
14:8
Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord that they may rest from their labours.
14:13
And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.
16:16
Another book was opened, which is the book of life.
20:12
I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
21:1–2
God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
21:4
There shall be no night there.
22:5
He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly.
22:11–12
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
22:13
Aesop1
fl. c. 550 B.C.
The lamb… began to follow the wolf in sheep’s clothing.
The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing
Appearances often are deceiving.
The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing
Do not count your chickens before they are hatched.2
The Milkmaid and Her Pail
I am sure the grapes are sour.3
The Fox and the Grapes
No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.
The Lion and the Mouse
Slow and steady wins the race.
The Hare and the Tortoise
Familiarity breeds contempt.
The Fox and the Lion
The boy cried “Wolf, wolf!” and the villagers came out to help him.
The Shepherd Boy and the Wolf
A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety.
The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse
Borrowed plumes.
The Jay and the Peacock
It is not only fine feathers that make fine birds.
The Jay and the Peacock
Self-conceit may lead to self-destruction.
The Frog and the Ox
People often grudge others what they cannot enjoy themselves.
The Dog in the Manger
It is thrifty to prepare today for the wants of tomorrow.
The Ant and the Grasshopper
Be content with your lot; one cannot be first in everything.
Juno and the Peacock
A huge gap appeared in the side of the mountain. At last a tiny mouse came forth.1
The Mountain in Labor
Any excuse will serve a tyrant.
The Wolf and the Lamb
Beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow.
The Dog and the Shadow
Who shall bell the cat?
The Rats and the Cat
I will have nought to do with a man who can blow hot and cold with the same breath.
The Man and the Satyr
Thinking to get at once all the gold the goose could give, he killed it and opened it only to find—nothing.
The Goose with the Golden Eggs
Put your shoulder to the wheel.
Hercules and the Wagoner
The gods help them that help themselves.2
Hercules and the Wagoner
We would often be sorry if our wishes were gratified.
The Old Man and Death
Union gives strength.
The Bundle of Sticks
While I see many hoof marks going in, I see none coming out. It is easier to get into the enemy’s toils than out again.
The Lion, the Fox, and the Beasts
The haft of the arrow had been feathered with one of the eagle’s own plumes. We often give our enemies the means of our own destruction.1
The Eagle and the Arrow
Terence2 [Publius Terentius Afer]
c. 190–159 B.C.
Moderation in all things.
Andria (The Lady of Andros), l. 61
Hence these tears.3
Andria, l. 126
Lovers’ quarrels are the renewal of love.4
Andria, l. 555
Charity begins at home.5
Andria, l. 635
I am a man: nothing human is alien to me.6
Heauton Timoroumenos (The Self-Tormentor), l. 77
Draw from others the lesson that may profit yourself.7
Heauton Timoroumenos, l. 221
Time removes distress.
Heauton Timoroumenos, l. 421
Nothing is so difficult but that it may be found out by seeking.8
Heauton Timoroumenos, l. 675
Some people ask, “What if the sky were to fall?”9
Heauton Timoroumenos, l. 719
Extreme law is often extreme injustice.1
Heauton Timoroumenos, l. 796
There is nothing so easy but that it becomes difficult when you do it reluctantly.
Heauton Timoroumenos, l. 805
While there’s life, there’s hope.
Heauton Timoroumenos, l. 981
In fact, nothing is said that has not been said before.
Eunuchus (The Eunuch), l. 41, prologue
I have everything, yet have nothing; and although I possess nothing, still of nothing am I in want.
Eunuchus, l. 243
There are vicissitudes in all things.
Eunuchus, l. 276
I don’t care one straw.2
Eunuchus, l. 411
Take care and say this with presence of mind.3
Eunuchus, l. 769
He is wise who tries everything before arms.
Eunuchus, l. 789
I know the disposition of women: when you will, they won’t; when you won’t, they set their hearts upon you of their own inclination.
Eunuchus, l. 812
I took to my heels as fast as I could.
Eunuchus, l. 844
Fortune helps the brave.4
Phormio, l. 203
So many men, so many opinions; every one his own way.5
Phormio, l. 454
I bid him look into the lives of men as though into a mirror, and from others to take an example for himself.
Adelphoe (The Brothers), l. 415
Nag Hammadi6
Fourth century
I was sent forth from [the] power,
and I have come to those who reflect upon me,
and I have been found among those who seek after me.
The Thunder: Perfect Mind, Gnostic manuscripts, codex VI, 2
Do not be ignorant of me.
For I am the first and the last.
I am the honored one and the scorned one.
I am the whore and the holy one.
I am the wife and the virgin.
I am <the mother>1 and the daughter.
I am the members of my mother.
I am the barren one
and many are her sons.
I am she whose wedding is great,
and I have not taken a husband.
I am the midwife and she who does not bear.
I am the solace of my labor pains.
I am the bride and the bridegroom,
and it is my husband who begot me.
I am the mother of my father
and the sister of my husband
and he is my offspring.
I am the slave of him who prepared me.
I am the ruler of my offspring.
The Thunder: Perfect Mind, VI, 2
I am the silence that is incomprehensible
and the idea whose remembrance is frequent.
I am the voice whose sound is manifold
and the word whose appearance is multiple.
I am the utterance of my name.
The Thunder: Perfect Mind, VI, 2
Why, you who hate me, do you love me,
and hate those who love me?
You who deny me, confess me,
and you who confess me, deny me.
You who tell the truth about me, lie about me,
and you who have lied about me, tell the truth about me.
You who know me, be ignorant of me,
and those who have not known me, let them know me.
For I am knowledge and ignorance.
I am shameless; I am ashamed.
I am strength and I am fear.
I am war and peace.
The Thunder: Perfect Mind, VI, 2
And do not cast me out among those who are slain in violence.
But I, I am compassionate and I am cruel.
The Thunder: Perfect Mind, VI, 2
Be on your guard!
Do not hate my obedience
and do not love my self-control.
In my weakness, do not forsake me,
and do not be afraid of my power.
For why do you despise my fear
and curse my pride?
But I am she who exists in all fears
and strength in trembling.
I am she who is weak,
and I am well in a pleasant place.
I am senseless and I am wise.
The Thunder: Perfect Mind, VI, 2
Why have you hated me in your counsels?
For I shall be silent among those who are silent,
and I shall appear and speak,
Why then have you hated me, you Greeks?
Because I am a barbarian among [the] barbarians?
For I am the wisdom [of the] Greeks
and the knowledge of the barbarians.
I am the judgment of [the] Greeks and of the barbarians.
[I] am the one whose image is great in Egypt
and the one who has no image among the barbarians.
I am the one who has been hated everywhere
and who has been loved everywhere.
I am the one whom they call Life,
and you have called Death.
I am the one whom they call Law,
and you have called Lawlessness.
I am the one whom you have pursued,
and I am the one whom you have seized.
I am the one whom you have scattered,
and you have gathered me together.
I am the one before whom you have been ashamed,
and you have been shameless to me.
The Thunder: Perfect Mind, VI, 2
I am the one whom you have reflected upon,
and you have scorned me.
I am unlearned,
and they learn from me.
I am the one whom you have despised,
and you reflect upon me.
I am the one whom you have hidden from,
and you appear to me.
But whenever you hide yourselves,
I myself will appear.
For [whenever] you [appear],
I myself [will hide] from you.
The Thunder: Perfect Mind, VI, 2
Why do you curse me and honor me?
You have wounded and you have had mercy.
Do not separate me from the first ones whom you have [known].
[And] do not cast anyone [out nor] turn anyone away.
The Thunder: Perfect Mind, VI, 2
And I am an alien and a citizen.
The Thunder: Perfect Mind, VI, 2
Hear me in gentleness, and learn of me in roughness.
I am she who cries out,
and I am cast forth upon the face of the earth.
I prepare the bread and my mind within.
I am the knowledge of my name,
I am the one who cries out,
and I listen.
The Thunder: Perfect Mind, VI, 2
Hear me, you hearers
and learn of my words, you who know me.
I am the hearing that is attainable to everything;
I am the speech that cannot be grasped.
I am the name of the sound
and the sound of the name.
I am the sign of the letter
and the designation of the division.
The Thunder: Perfect Mind, VI, 2
For I am the one who alone exists,
and I have no one who will judge me.
The Thunder: Perfect Mind, VI, 2
For many are the pleasant forms which exist in
numerous sins,
and incontinencies,
and disgraceful passions,
and fleeting pleasures,
which (men) embrace until they become sober
and go up to their resting-place.
And they will find me there,
and they will live,
and they will not die again.
The Thunder: Perfect Mind, VI, 2
Saint Augustine
354–430
The weakness of little children’s limbs is innocent, not their souls.
Confessions [397–401], bk. I, ch. 7
To Carthage I came, where all about me resounded a caldron of dissolute loves.
Confessions, III, 1
I was in love with loving.
Confessions, III, 1
In the usual course of study I had come to a book of a certain Cicero.
Confessions, III, 4
Give me chastity and continence, but not just now.
Confessions, VIII, 7
Take up, read! Take up, read!1
Confessions, VIII, 12
Too late I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient and ever new! Too late I loved you! And, behold, you were within me, and I out of myself, and there I searched for you.
Confessions, X, 27
Give what you command, and command what you will.
Confessions, X, 29
Hear the other side.2
De Duabus Animabus, bk. XIV, ch. 2
I would not have believed the gospel had not the authority of the Church moved me.
Contra Epistulam Fundamenti [c. 410], ch. 5
Necessity has no law.
Soliloquiorum. Animae ad Deum [c. 410], 2
We make a ladder of our vices, if we trample those same vices underfoot.
Sermones, no. 3
The dove loves when it quarrels; the wolf hates when it flatters.
Sermones, 64
Rome has spoken; the case is closed.1
Sermones, 131
He who created you without you will not justify you without you.
Sermones, 169
The most glorious city of God.
De Civitate Dei [415], vol. I, preface
Two cities have been formed by two loves: the earthly by the love of self, even to the contempt of God; the heavenly by the love of God, even to the contempt of self.
De Civitate Dei, XIV, ch. 28
The Koran2
In the name of the most merciful God: Praise be to God, the Lord of all Being; the most merciful, the Master of the day of judgment. Thee do we worship, and of Thee do we beg assistance. Direct us in the right path, in the path of those to whom Thou hast been gracious; not of those against whom Thou art incensed, nor of those who go astray.
Ch. 1, verses 1–3
Do not veil the truth with falsehood, nor conceal the truth knowingly.
2:42
We believe in God, and in that which has been sent down on us and sent down on Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac and Jacob, and the Tribes, and that which was given to Moses and Jesus and the Prophets, of their Lord; we make no division between any of them, and to Him we surrender.3
2:135–136
A believing slave is better than an idolater, even though ye admire him.
2:221
God will not take you to task for vain words in your oaths, but He will take you to task for what your hearts have amassed.
2:225
I [Muhammad] have no power over benefit or hurt to myself except as God willeth.… I am only a warner, and a bringer of good tidings to a people who believe.
7:188
God sufficeth me: there is no God but He. In Him I put my trust.
9:129
In the alternation of night and day, and what God has created in the heavens and the earth—surely there are signs for a god-fearing people.
10:6
Surely God wrongs not men, but themselves men wrong.
10:44
Not so much as the weight of an ant in earth or heaven escapes from the Lord, neither is aught smaller than that, or greater, but is clearly written in God’s book.
10:61
God changes not what is in a people, until they change what is in themselves.
13:11
We [God] never sent a messenger save with the language of his folk, that he might make (the message)1 clear for them.
14:4
Seest thou not how God hath coined a parable? A good word is like a good tree whose root is firmly fixed, and whose top is in the sky. And it produces its edible fruit every season, by the permission of its Lord.… And a corrupt word is like a corrupt tree which has been torn off the ground, and has no fixity. God makes those who believe stand firm in this life and the next by His firm Word.
14:24–27
Our [God’s] word to a thing when We will it, is but to say, “Be,” and it is.
16:40
Glory be to Him who carried His servant by night from the sacred temple of Mecca to the temple of Jerusalem that is more remote, whose precinct We have blessed, that We might show him of Our tokens.
17:1
Thy Lord hath decreed that ye worship none save Him, and (that ye show) kindness to parents.… Lower unto them the wing of submission through mercy, and say, “My Lord, have mercy on them both as they took care of me when I was little.”
17:23–24
Walk not on the earth exultantly, for thou canst not cleave the earth, neither shalt thou reach to the mountains in height.
17:37
They will question thee concerning the soul. Say: “The soul is the concern of my Lord, and you have been given of knowledge but a little.”
17:85
They say: “We will not believe thee till thou makest a spring to gush forth from the earth for us, or… bringest God and the angels as a surety.”… And naught prevented men from believing when the guidance came to them, but that they said, “Has God sent forth a mortal as messenger?” Say: “Had there been in the earth angels walking at peace, We would have sent down upon them out of heaven an angel as messenger.”
17:90–95
And do not say, regarding anything, “I am going to do that tomorrow,” but only, “if God will.”
18:23–24
Wealth and children are the adornment of this present life: but good works, which are lasting, are better in the sight of thy Lord as to recompense, and better as to hope.
18:46
Man says: “How is it possible, when I am dead, that I shall then be brought forth alive?”
Does he not remember that We have created him once, and that he was nothing then?
19:66–67
Do not the unbelievers see that the skies and the earth were both a solid mass, and that We clave them asunder, and that by means of water We give life to everything? Will they not then believe?
21:30
O men, if you are in doubt as to the Resurrection, surely We created you of dust, then of a sperm drop, then of a blood clot, then of a lump of flesh.… And thou beholdest the earth blackened; then, when We send down water upon it, it quivers, and swells, and puts forth herbs of every joyous kind.
22:5
We [God] charge not any soul save to its ability.
23:62
God is the light of the heavens and of the earth. His light is like a niche in which is a lamp—the lamp encased in glass—the glass, as it were, a glistening star. From a blessed tree it is lighted, the olive neither from the East nor of the West, whose oil would well nigh shine out, even though fire touched it not. It is light upon light. God guideth whom He will to His light, and God setteth forth parables to men.
24:35
As for the unbelievers, their works are as a mirage in a spacious plain which the man athirst supposes to be water, till, when he comes to it, he finds it is nothing; there indeed he finds God, and He pays him his account in full; and God is swift at the reckoning. Or they are as shadows upon a sea obscure, covered by a billow above which is a billow, above which are clouds, shadows piled upon one another; when he puts forth his hand, wellnigh he cannot see it. And to whomsoever God assigns no light, no light has he.
24:39–40
Thou seest the mountains and thou deemest them affixed, (verily) they are as fleeting as the clouds.
27:88
Thou truly canst not guide whom thou lovest; but God guideth whom He will; and He best knoweth those who yield to guidance.
28:55
The present life is naught but a diversion and a sport; surely the Last Abode is Life, did they but know.
29:64
And of His [God’s] signs is the creation of the heavens and earth and the variety of your tongues and hues. Surely in that are signs for all living beings.
30:22
Whosoever surrenders his face to God and performs good deeds, he verily has grasped the surest handle, and unto God is the sequel of all things.
31:22
If whatever trees are in the earth were pens, and He should after that swell the seas into seven seas of ink, the Words of God would not be exhausted.
31:27
We offered this trust1 to the heavens and the earth and the mountains, but they were humbled by it, and shrank from bearing it. Yet, man bore it. Truly he is ever in the darkness of injustice, and of ignorance.
33:72
He makes the night seep into the day, and makes the day seep into the night; He has subordinated the sun and the moon, making each of them journey towards a preordained time.
35:13
And on that day no soul shall be wronged at all, nor shall ye be rewarded for aught but that which ye have done.
36:54
They say: “We only have the life of this world. We die and we live, and nothing destroys us but time.” Yet, not true knowledge have they of this; only belief.
45:24
O true believers, let not men laugh other men to scorn, who peradventure may be better than themselves.… Neither let the one of you speak ill of another in his absence.
49:10–13
The Arabs of the desert say, We believe. Answer, Ye do by no means believe; but say, We have embraced Islam: for the faith hath not yet entered into your hearts.
49:14
We [God] created Man, and We know what his soul whispereth within him; and We are nearer unto him than his jugular vein.
50:16
The heart of Muhammad did not falsely represent that which he saw. Will you therefore dispute with him concerning that which he saw?
53:11–12
O tribe of spirits and of men, if you are able to slip through the parameters of the skies and the earth, then do so. You shall not pass through them save with My [the Lord’s] authority.
55:33
He is the first and the last, the manifest and the hidden: and He knoweth all things.
57:3
Let every soul look upon the morrow for the deed it has performed.
59:18
Is he, therefore, who goeth groveling upon his face, better directed than he who walketh upright in a straight way?
67:22
Man is a witness unto his deeds.
75:14
Recite: In the name of thy Lord who created,
Created Man of a blood clot.
Recite: And thy Lord is the most
Generous, who taught by the Pen,
Taught Man that he knew not.
96:1–5
Whoso has done an atom’s weight of good shall see it; and whoso has done an atom’s weight of evil shall see it.
99:7–8
Say: “He is God, One God, the Everlasting Refuge, who has not begotten, and has not been begotten, and equal to Him is not anyone.”
112
Sunjata1
Thirteenth century
If you call a great man, no great man answers your call;
You must lay your hand upon the earth;
Many a great man is under the ground, a youthful king.
Had the ground a mouth, it would say, “Many great men are under me.”
Afonso I [Nzinga Mebeba]
c. 1461–1543
We cannot reckon how great the damage is, since the… merchants daily seize our subjects, sons of the land and sons of our noblemen, and vassals, and our relatives.… They grab them and cause them to be sold: and so great, Sir, is their corruption and licentiousness that our country is being utterly depopulated.
Letter to the king of Portugal [1526]2
Leo Africanus
Sixteenth century
No one makes war on anyone, and no one steps outside his own territory. Some worship the sun, and prostrate when they see it rising above the horizon. Others worship fire.… Yet others are Christians in the style of the Egyptians.
Description of Africa [1526]1
There are numerous regions there, but most are unknown to us, either because of the length and difficulty of the journey, or because of the diversity of the languages and beliefs, which hinders them from having relations with the countries that are known to us, just as they hinder ours from having relations with theirs.
Description of Africa
The Kebra Nagast
Sixteenth century
And the Queen [Makeda] said unto her subjects: “Ye who are my people, listen to my words for I desire wisdom and my heart seeketh to find understanding.”
I am smitten with the love of wisdom, for wisdom is far better than treasures of gold and silver, and wisdom is the best of everything that hath been created on the earth. Unto what under the heavens shall wisdom be compared? It is sweeter than honey and it makes one to rejoice more than wine; it shines more than the sun and it is beloved more than precious stones. It fattens more than oil, and it satisfies more than dainty meats, and it gives more fame than thousands of gold and silver. It is a source of joy for the heart, a bright and shining light for the eyes and a giver of speed to the feet; a shield for the breast and a helmet for the head.
Pt. 2, sec. 22. The Queen of Ethiopia Prepares for Her Journey to Jerusalem2
He who heaps up gold and silver does so to no profit without wisdom, but he who heaps up wisdom no man can snatch it from his heart.
Pt. 2, sec. 22. The Queen of Ethiopia Prepares for Her Journey to Jerusalem2
And [Solomon] spoke further to the Queen, saying: What is the use of us, the children of men, if we do not exercise kindness and love upon earth?
Pt. 2, sec. 25. Solomon and the Workman2
The word of the Lord cutteth like a straight, sharp sword, and in like manner the Scriptures cut from men’s hearts the danger caused by deceitful fables and imaginings.
Pt. 4, sec. 60. Concerning the Prophecy of Christ1
The people of Ethiopia were chosen from among idols and graven images, and the people of Israel were rejected. The daughters of Zion were rejected, and the daughters of Ethiopia were honoured… for God accepted the peoples who had been cast away, and rejected Israel, for Zion was taken away from them and she came into the country of Ethiopia… for wherever God is pleased for her to dwell, there is her habitation.
Pt. 4, sec. 78. How Queen Makeda Made Her Son King of Ethiopia1
Then all the saints who were gathered together said:
“In all truth the King of Ethiopia is more exalted and more honorable than any other king upon the earth, because of the glory and the greatness of the heavenly Zion.”
Pt. 4, sec. 83. How the Authority of Bayna-Lehkem Was Universally Accepted1
Ahmad Baba
c. 1556–1627
O traveler to Gao, turn off to my city. Murmur my name there and greet all my dear ones,
With scented salams from an exile who longs for his homeland and neighbors, companions and friends.
Written in exile from Timbuktu2
Adam was created from a handful taken from the whole earth. Thus, his sons carried exactly the nature of the colors of the earth. Some were red, others white and some were black. Some were good-natured, others ill-natured while some were vicious and some virtuous.
Quoting another scholar, al-Ash ’ari3
Njinga [Donna Anna de Sousa]4
1582–1663
I was born Queen and must at all times live like a Queen. Thus the natural order has it and no one debates this. But the governors of Angola, officials of Portugal who are born vassals in Europe, through great pride and ambitions which fills their head, want here in Africa to live like Kings to the detriment and at the expense of these countries and therefore, they can no longer henceforth be endured, and they are hateful to all; and if God does not help here they will reduce us to ultimate despair.
Letter, La Marvigliosa Conversione all Santa Fede di Cristo della Regina Signa e del svo Regno di Matamba nell’Africa Meridonale [1668]1
Sometimes force is able to exterminate the wicked customs of those that do not use reason and do not understand any argument without punishment.
Descrição histórica dos três reinos do Congo, Matamba e Angola by Cavazzi de Montecòccolo, Giovanni Antonio [1965]1
‘Abd al-Rahman Al-Sa ‘di
Seventeenth century
To proceed: we understand that our forefathers used mainly to divert one another in their assemblies by talking of the Companions and the pious folk—may God be pleased with them, and have mercy upon them. Then they would speak of the chiefs and kings of their lands, their lives and deaths, their conduct, their heroic exploits, and other historical information and tales relating to them. This was what they most delighted in telling, and what they most desired to speak of among themselves.
Then that generation passed away—may the mercy of God Most High be upon them. In the following generation there was none who had any interest in that, nor was there anyone who followed the path of their deceased ancestors, nor anyone greatly concerned about respect for elders. If there were indeed any such, then they were few, and finally the only folk remaining were those whose motivations were base, and who concerned themselves with hatred, jealousy, back-biting tittle-tattle, scandal-mongering, and concocting lies about people. God preserve us from such things, for they lead to evil consequences.
Ta ’rikh al-Sudan,2 introduction
[On Timbuktu] It is a city unsullied by the worship of idols, where none has prostrated save to God the Compassionate, a refuge of scholarly and righteous folk, a haunt of saints and ascetics and a meeting place of caravans and boats.
Ta ’rikh al-Sudan, ch. 7
Gassire’s Lute1
Seventeenth century
Four times
Wagadu rose.2
A great city, gleaming in the light of day.
Four times
Wagadu fell.
And disappeared from human sight.
Once through vanity.
Once through dishonesty.
Once through greed.
Once through discord.
The guinea hen sang:
“All creatures must die, be buried, and vanish.
Kings and heroes die, are buried and vanish.
I, too, shall die, shall be buried, and vanish.”
The smith spoke:
“The lute is but a piece of wood.
Without a heart it cannot sing.”
And while we should not like to live fameless,
we have no wish to die for fame alone.
Felix
Eighteenth century
We have no Property! We have no Wives! No Children! We have no City! No Country!
Petition for Freedom, Boston [January 6, 1773]3
Briton Hammon
Eighteenth century
Having been informed by some of the ship’s crew that she was to sail in a few days, I had nothing now to do, but seek an opportunity how I should make my escape.
A Narrative of the Uncommon Sufferings, and Surprizing Deliverance of Briton Hammon, a Negro Man [1760]
I think I have not deviated from Truth, in any particular of this my Narrative, and tho’ I have omitted a great many things, yet what is wrote may suffice to convince the Reader, that I have been most grievously afflicted, and yet thro’ the Divine Goodness, as miraculously preserved, and delivered out of many Dangers.
A Narrative of the Uncommon Sufferings, and Surprizing Deliverance of Briton Hammon, a Negro Man
Othello
Eighteenth century
To whom are the wretched sons of Africa to apply for redress, if their cruel master treats them with unkindness? To whom will they resort for protection if he is base enough to refuse it to them? The law is not their friend;—alas! too many statutes are enacted against them. The world is not their friend—the iniquity is too general and extensive. No one who hath slaves of his own, will protect those of another, less the practice should be retorted. Thus when their masters abandon them, their situation is destitute and forlorn and God is their only friend!1
[1788]
Job Ben Solomon [Ayuba Suleiman Diallo]
c. 1702–c. 1773
One of my wives had got another husband in my room and the other gave me over, my father died soon after my misfortune of being seized and sold for a slave, but my children are all well, my redemption was so remarkable and surprising that my messengers and letters sent on my arrival here were not credited, but how elated and amazed they were at my arrival, I must leave you to guess at, as being inexpressible as is likewise the raptures and pleasure I enjoy’d, floods of tears burst their way and some little time afterwards we recover’d so as to have some discourse and in time I acquainted them and all the country how I had been redeem’d… from such distant parts as are beyond their capacity to conceive.
Letter from son of Fulani high priest on returning home many years after being sold into slavery in the United States [1735/6]2
James Albert Ukawsaw Gronniosaw
c. 1710–1775
I was frequently lost in wonder at the works of the Creation: was afraid, uneasy and restless, but could not tell for what. I wanted to be informed of things that no person could tell me: and was always dissatisfied.… I should have perceived that I had much more to suffer than I had before experienced, and that my troubles had as yet barely commenced.
Narrative of the Most Remarkable Particulars in the Life of James Albert Ukawsaw Gronniosaw, an African Prince [1772]
I who, at home, was surrounded and guarded by slaves, so that no indifferent person might approach me, and clothed with gold, have been inhumanly threatened with death; and have frequently wanted clothing to defend me from the inclemency of the weather.… I am willing, and even desirous to be counted as nothing, a stranger in the world, and a pilgrim here.
A Narrative of the Most Remarkable Particulars in the Life of James Albert Ukawsaw Gronniosaw, an African Prince
Jupiter Hammon1
c. 1711–1806
Come Blessed Jesus, Heavenly Dove,
Accept Repentance here;
Salvation give, with tender Love;
Let us with Angels share.
An Evening Thought [December 25, 1760]
While thousands tossed by the sea,
And others settled down,
God’s tender mercy set thee free,
From dangers that come down.
An Address to Miss Phillis Wheatly [sic] [August 4, 1778]
Thus, the Dialogue shall end,
Strive to obey the word;
When ev’ry Nation acts like friends,
Shall be the sons of God.
A Dialogue [1782]
Let us remember the uncertainty of human life, and that we are many of us within a step of the grave, hanging only by the single thread of life, and we know not how soon God may send the cold hand of death to cut the thread of life.
A Winter Piece [1782]
Now whether it is right, and lawful, in the sight of God, for them to make slaves of us or not, I am certain that while we are slaves, it is our duty to obey our masters, in all their lawful commands and mind them unless we are bid to do that which we know to be sin, or forbidden in God’s word.… It may seem hard for us, if we think our masters wrong in holding us slaves, to obey in all things, but who of us dare dispute with God! He has commanded us to obey, and we ought to do it cheerfully, and freely.
Address to the Negroes of the State of New York [1787]2
I acknowledge that liberty is a great thing, and worth seeking for, if we can get it honestly; and by our good conduct prevail on our masters to set us free: though for my own part I do not wish to be free, yet I should be glad if others especially the young Negroes, were to be free; for many of us who are grown up slaves and have always had masters to take care of us, should hardly know how to take care of ourselves; and it may be more for our own comfort to remain as we are.… I must say that I have hoped that God would open their eyes, when they were so much engaged for liberty, to think of the state of the poor blacks, and to pity us. He has done it in some measure, and has raised us up many friends; for which we have reason to be thankful, and to hope in his mercy.
An Address to the Negroes of the State of New York1
There are but two places where all go after death, white and black, rich and poor; those places are Heaven and Hell.
An Address to the Negroes of the State of New York
Belinda
c. 1713–c. 1787
Nations must be agitated, and the world convulsed for the preservation of the freedom which the Almighty Father intended for all the human Race.… The face of your Petitioner, is now marked with the furrows of time, and her frame bending under the oppression of years, while she, by the Laws of the Land, is denied the employment of one morsel of that immense wealth, apart whereof hath been accumulated by her own industry, and the whole augmented by her servitude.
From petition for pension submitted in Massachusetts by former slave [February 1783]2
Crispus Attucks
c. 1723–1770
Be not afraid, they dare not fire.
Said during Boston Massacre [March 5, 1770]3
Ignatius Sancho4
c. 1729–1780
Lord! What is man?—and what business have such lazy, lousy, paltry beings of a day to form friendships, or to make connections? Man is an absurd animal—yea, I will ever maintain it—in his vices, dreadful—in his few virtues, silly—he has religion without devotion—philosophy without wisdom—the divine passion (as it is called) love too oft without affection—and anger without cause—friendship without reason—hate without reflection—knowledge… without judgment—and wit without discretion.
Letter 2 [August 7, 1768]
Happy, happy lad! What a fortune is thine!—Look round upon the miserable fate of almost all of our unfortunate color—superadded to ignorance—see slavery, and the contempt of those very wretches who roll in affluence from our labors.
Letter 14 [October 11, 1772]
Alas! Time leaves the marks of his rough fingers upon all things.
Letter 18 [November 26, 1774]
Philosophy is best practiced, I believe, by the easy and affluent.
Letter 30 [October 16, 1775]
Zounds! If alive—what ails you?
Letter 42 [February 9, 1777]
Make human nature thy study—wherever though residest—whatever the religion—or the complexion—study their hearts.
Letter 2 [1778]
Venture Smith
1729–1805
I crossed the waters to come here, and I am willing to cross them to return.
A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture [1798]
My freedom is a privilege which nothing else can equal.
A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture
A father’s lips are closed in silence and in grief!
A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture
Lucy Terry Prince
c. 1730–1821
August ’twas the twenty-fifth,
Seventeen hundred and forty-six;
The Indians did in ambush lay,
Some very valiant men to slay,
The names of whom I’ll not leave out.
Samuel Allen like a hero fout
And though he was so brave and bold,
His face no more shall we behold.
Bars Fight [c. 1746] in History of Western Massachusetts [1855]1
Benjamin Banneker
1731–1806
Sir, I have long been convinced, that if your love for yourselves, and for those inestimable laws, which preserved to you the rights of human nature, was founded on sincerity, you could not but be solicitous, that every individual, of whatever rank or distinction, might with you equally enjoy the blessings thereof; neither could you rest satisfied short of the most active effusion of your exertions, in order to their promotion from any state of degradation, to which the unjustifiable cruelty and barbarism of men may have reduced them.
Letter to Thomas Jefferson [August 19, 1791]1
Sir, how pitiable is it to reflect, that although you were so fully convinced of the benevolence of the Father of Mankind, and of his equal and impartial distribution of these rights and privileges, which he hath conferred upon them, that you should at the same time counteract his mercies, in detaining by fraud and violence so numerous a part of my brethren, under groaning captivity and cruel oppression, that you should at the same time be found guilty of that most criminal act, which you professedly detested in others, with respect to yourselves.
Letter to Thomas Jefferson
Prince Hall
1735–1807
[A Mason] should lend his helping hand to a brother in distress, and relieve him. This we may do in various ways; for we may sometimes help him to a cup of cold water, and it may be better to him than a cup of wine. Good advice may be sometimes better than feeding his body, helping him to some lawful employment, better than giving him money; so defending his case and standing by him when wrongfully accused, may be better than clothing him; better to save a brother’s house when on fire, than to give him one.
A Charge Delivered to the Brethren of the African Lodge [June 25, 1792]
So in states and kingdoms; sometimes in tranquility, then wars and tumults; rich today and poor tomorrow; which shows that there is not an independent mortal on earth: but dependent one upon the other from the king to the beggar.
A Charge Delivered to the African Lodge [June 24, 1797]
The passion of fear, like pride and envy, hath slain its thousands.
A Charge Delivered to the African Lodge
Be always ready to give an answer to those that ask you a question; give the right hand of affection and fellowship to whom it justly belongs, let their color and complexion be what it will; let their nation be what it may, for they are your brethren and it is your indispensable duty to do so.
A Charge Delivered to the African Lodge
Joseph Boulogne [Le Chevalier de Saint-George]1
1739–1799
I can no longer remain in this cruel uncertainty; I have nothing in the world with which to reproach myself; everywhere I have given proofs of my good citizenship and my republican sentiments, which are innate in me.
Letter requesting reinstatement to commanding post in French military [September 29, 1793]
Oh the joy of being loved tenderly,
And yet what disappointment follows in its wake!
Why do you approach so slowly
And then so quickly turn away?
The Other Day Beneath the Trees1
Sighing for what one adores is the hardest thing to bear.
Romances (Songs)1
Elizabeth Freeman [Mum Bett]
c. 1742–1829
By keepin’ still and mindin’ things.
Response when asked how she learned about the Bill of Rights, which she used as the basis to sue successfully for her freedom [1781]2
Toussaint L’Ouverture
1743–1803
I was born in slavery, but I received from nature the soul of a freeman.
Letter [August 26, 1797]3
There cannot exist slaves on this territory, servitude is therein forever abolished. All men are born, live and die free and French.
All men, regardless of color, are eligible to all employment.
There shall exist no distinction other than those based on virtue and talent, and other superiority afforded by law in the exercise of a public function. The law is the same for all whether in punishment or in protection.
Title II, Haitian Constitution [1801], articles 3–5
It is my duty to render to the French Government an exact account of my conduct. I shall relate the facts with all the simplicity and frankness of an old soldier, adding to them the reflections that naturally suggest themselves. In short, I shall tell the truth, though it be against myself.
Memoir of General Toussaint L’Ouverture Written by Himself [1802],1 opening lines
Means have been employed against me which are only used against the greatest criminals. Doubtless, I owe this treatment to my color; but my color,—my color,—has it hindered me from serving my country with zeal and fidelity? Does the color of my skin impair my honor and my bravery?
Memoir of General Toussaint L’Ouverture
They have sent me to France destitute of everything; they have seized my property and my papers, and have spread atrocious calumnies concerning me. Is it not like cutting off a man’s legs and telling him to walk? Is it not like cutting out a man’s tongue and telling him to talk? Is it not burying a man alive?
Memoir of General Toussaint L’Ouverture
I have been a slave; I am willing to own it; but I have never received reproaches from my masters.
Memoir of General Toussaint L’Ouverture
There are men who appear outwardly to love liberty for all, but who are inwardly its sworn enemies.
Letter2
Men in general are so inclined to envy the glory of others, are so jealous of good which they have not themselves accomplished, that a man often makes himself enemies by the simple fact that he has rendered great service.
Letter
Olaudah Equiano [Gustavus Vassa]
1745–1797
It is difficult for those who publish their own memoirs to escape the imputation of vanity; nor is this the only disadvantage under which they labor: it is also their misfortune, that what is uncommon is rarely, if ever believed, and what is obvious we are apt to turn from with disgust.… People generally think those memoirs only worthy to be read or remembered which abound in great or striking events, those in short which in a high degree excite either admiration or pity: all others they consign to contempt and oblivion.
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African [1789], ch. 1
Did I consider myself an European, I might say my sufferings were great: but when I compare my lot with that of most of my countrymen, I regard myself as a particular favorite of heaven.
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, 1
The first object which saluted my eyes when I arrived on the coast was the sea, and a slave ship, which was then riding at anchor, and waiting for its cargo. These filled me with astonishment, which was soon converted into terror, when I was carried on board. I was immediately handled, and tossed up to see if I were sound, by some of the crew; and I was now persuaded that I had gotten into a world of bad spirits, and that they were going to kill me.… I would have freely parted with them all to have exchanged my condition with that of the meanest slave in my own country. When I looked round the ship too and saw a large furnace or copper boiling, and a multitude of black people of every description chained together, every one of their countenances expressing dejection and sorrow, I no longer doubted of my fate.
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, 2
[On the Middle Passage:] 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 himself, almost suffocated us. This produced copious perspirations, so that the air soon became unfit for respiration, from a variety of loathsome smells, and brought on a sickness among the slaves, of which many died, thus falling victims to the improvident avarice, as I may call it, of their purchasers. This wretched situation was again aggravated by the galling of the chains, now become insupportable; and the filth of the necessary tubs, into which the children often fell, and were almost suffocated. The shrieks of the women, and the groans of the dying, rendered the whole a scene of horror almost inconceivable.
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, 2
Is not the slave trade entirely at war with the heart of man? And surely that which is begun by breaking down the barriers of virtue, involves in its continuance destruction to every principle, and buries all sentiments in ruin!
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, 5
When you make men slaves you deprive them of half their virtue, you set them, in your own conduct, an example of fraud, rapine, and cruelty, and compel them to live with you in a state of war.
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, 5
Absalom Jones
1746–1818
We implore thy blessing, O God, upon the President, and all who are in authority in the United States. Direct them by thy wisdom, in all their deliberations, and O save thy people from the calamities of war. Give peace in our day, we beseech thee, O thou God of peace! and grant, that this highly favoured country may continue to afford a safe and peaceful retreat from the calamities of war and slavery, for ages yet to come.
On Account of the Abolition of the Slave Trade. A Thanksgiving Sermon [January 1, 1808]
George Liele
c. 1750–c. 1828
I agree to election, redemption, the fall of Adam, regeneration and perseverance, knowing the promise is to all who endure, in grace, faith and good works to the end, shall be saved.
Letter, Kingston, Jamaica [December 18, 1791]1
Lemuel Haynes2
1753–1833
Liberty and freedom is an innate principle, which is unmoveably placed in the human species; and to see a man aspire after it, is not enigmatical, seeing he acts no ways incompatible with his own nature.… Liberty is a Jewel which was handed down to man from the cabinet of heaven.
Liberty Further Extended [1776]
An African, or in other terms,… a Negro may justly challenge and has an undeniable right to his liberty: Consequently, the practice of slave-keeping, which so much abounds in this Land is illicit.… Liberty is equally as precious to a Black man as it is to a white one, and bondage equally as intolerable to the one as it is to the other.
Liberty Further Extended
[On the devil:] He is an old preacher. He lived above one thousand seven hundred years before Abraham; above two thousand four hundred and thirty years before Moses; four thousand and four years before Christ. By this time he must have acquired great skill in the art.
Universal Salvation [June 1805]
The reality of a future punishment is at times so clearly impressed on the human mind, that even Satan is constrained to own that there is a hell.
Universal Salvation
Phillis Wheatley1
c. 1753–1784
Wisdom is higher than a fool can reach.
On Virtue
Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land,
Taught my benighted soul to understand
That there’s a God, that there’s a Saviour too:
Once I redemption neither sought nor knew,
Some view our sable race with scornful eye,
“Their colour is a diabolic die.”
Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain,
May be refin’d, and join th’ angelic train.
On Being Brought from Africa to America
Hail, happy saint, on thine immortal throne,
Possest of glory, life, and bliss unknown:
We hear no more the music of thy tongue,
Thy wonted auditories cease to throng.
On the Death of the Reverend Mr. George Whitfield. 1770
Aurora hail, and all the thousand dies,
Which deck thy progress through the vaulted skies:
The morn awakes, and wide extends her rays,
On ev’ry leaf the gentle zephyr plays;
Harmonious lays the feather’d race resume,
Dart the bright eye, and shake the painted plume.
A Hymn to the Morning
Let placid slumbers sooth each weary mind,
At morn to wake more heav’nly, more refin’d.
A Hymn to the Evening
Imagination! who can sing thy force?
Or who describe the swiftness of thy course?
On Imagination
Descend to earth, there place thy throne;
To succour man’s afflicted son
Each human heart inspire:
To act in bounties unconfin’d
Enlarge the close contracted mind,
And fill it with thy fire.
A Hymn to Humanity
John Marrant
1755–1791
I now and then found, that my affections to my family and country were not dead; they were sometimes very sensibly felt, and at last strengthened into an invincible desire of returning home.
On his decision to return home after years of living among the Cherokee. A Narrative of the Lord’s Wonderful Dealings with John Marrant [1785]
I saw my call to the ministry fuller and clearer; had a feeling concern for the salvation of my countrymen: I carried them constantly in the arms of prayer and faith to the throne of grace, and had continual sorrow in my heart for my brethren, for my kinsmen, according to the flesh.
A Narrative of the Lord’s Wonderful Dealings with John Marrant
Man is a wonderful creature, and not undeservedly said to be a little world, a world within himself, and containing whatever is found in the Creator.
Sermon preached at the African Lodge, Boston [June 24, 1789]
Slavery… is not a just cause of our being despised; for if we search history, we shall not find a nation on earth [that] has at some period or other of their existence been in slavery, from the Jews down to the English nation under many Emperors, Kings and Princes.
Sermon preached at the African Lodge, Boston
[Quobna] Ottobah Cugoano
c. 1757–c. 1791
No necessity, or any situation of men, however poor pitiful and wretched they may be, can warrant them to rob others, or oblige them to become thieves because they are poor, miserable and wretched: But the robbers of men, the kidnappers, ensnarers and slave holders, who take away the common rights and privileges of others to support and enrich themselves, are universally those pitiful and detestable wretches; for the ensnarings of others, and taking away their liberty by slavery and oppression is the worst kind of robbery.
Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil and Wicked Traffic of the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species [1787]
When a vessel arrived to conduct us away to the ship, it was a most horrible scene; there was nothing to be heard but rattling of chains, smacking of whips, and the groans and cries of our fellow men.… All my help was cries and tears and these could not avail.
On being brought onto a slave ship. Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil and Wicked Traffic of the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species
I must own, to the shame of my own countrymen, that I was first kidnapped and betrayed by some of my own complexion, who were the first cause of my exile and slavery; but if there were no buyers, there would be no sellers.
Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil and Wicked Traffic of the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species
Jean-Jacques Dessalines
1758–1806
We have dared to be free—let us continue free by ourselves, and for ourselves; let us imitate the growing child; his own strength breaks his leading-strings, which become useless and troublesome to him in his walk. What are the people who have fought us? What people would reap the fruits of our labors? And what a dishonorable absurdity, to conquer to be slaves!
Proclamation of Haiti’s Independence [January 1, 1804]1
Remember that I have sacrificed everything to fly to your defense—parents, children, fortune, and am now only rich in your liberty—that my name has become a horror to all friends of slavery, or despots; and tyrants only pronounce it cursing the day that gave me birth. If ever you refuse or receive with murmuring the laws, which the protecting angel that watches over your destinies, shall dictate to me for your happiness, you will merit the fate of an ungrateful people. But away from me this frightful idea: You will be the guardians of the liberty you cherish.
Proclamation of Haiti’s Independence
Paul Cuffe2
1759–1817
My soul feels free to travel for the welfare of my fellow creatures both here and hereafter.
Letter, Westport [February 22, 1813]
Agrippa Hull
1759–1848
It is not the cover of the book, but what the book contains is the question. Many a good book has dark covers. Which is the worst, the white black man or the black white man? To be black outside, or to be black inside?
From ELECTA F. JONES, Stockbridge, Past and Present [1854]
Sir, he was half black and half white; I liked my half, how did you like yours?
Response when asked by white master how he enjoyed “nigger preaching” after the two heard the sermon of a “distinguished mulatto preacher.”1 From Stockbridge, Past and Present
Richard Allen
1760–1831
Men must be willfully blind and extremely partial, that cannot see the contrary effects of liberty and slavery upon the mind of man. I truly confess the vile habits often acquired in a state of servitude are not easily thrown off; the example of the Israelites shows, who with all that Moses could do to reclaim them from it, still continued in their habits more or less; and why will you look for better from us?… It is in our posterity enjoying the same privileges with your own that you ought to look for better things.
The Life, Experience and Gospel Labors of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen [1833]. An Address to Those Who Keep Slaves and Oppose the Practice
The bands of bondage were so strong that no way appeared for my release: yet at times a hope arose in my heart that a way would open for it.
The Life, Experience and Gospel Labors of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen. To the People of Colour
Much depends upon us for the help of our color—more than many are aware. If we are lazy and idle, the enemies of freedom plead it as a cause why we ought not to be free, and say we are better in a state of servitude, and that giving us our liberty would be an injury to us, and by such conduct we strengthen the bands of oppression and keep many in bondage who are more worthy than ourselves.
The Life, Experience and Gospel Labors of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen. To the People of Colour
The tear of sensibility trickles from your eye, to see the sufferings that keep us from increasing.… You see our race more effectually destroyed, than was in Pharaoh’s power to effect upon Israel’s sons; you blow the trumpet against the mighty evil; you make the tyrants tremble; you strive to raise the slave to the dignity of a man; you take our children by the hand, to lead them in the path of virtue.
The Life, Experience and Gospel Labors of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen. A Short Address to the Friends of Him Who Hath No Helper
Boston King
c. 1760–1802
To escape this cruelty, I determined to go to Charles Town, and throw myself into the hands of the English. They received me readily, and I began to feel the happiness of liberty, of which I knew nothing before, although I was most grieved at first to be obliged to leave many friends, and remain among strangers.
On joining the British during the American Revolution. Memoirs of the Life of Boston King, a Black Preacher, Written by Himself [1796]
We saw our old masters coming from Virginia, North Carolina and other parts, and seizing upon their slaves in the streets of New York, or even dragging them out of their beds. Many of the slaves had very cruel masters, so that the thoughts of returning home with them embittered life to us. For some days we lost our appetite for food and sleep departed from our eyes.
On the end of the American Revolution. Memoirs of the Life of Boston King, a Black Preacher, Written by Himself
Henri Christophe1
1767–1820
My subjects inherit the ignorance and prejudice that belong to slavery. At this moment they have made but very little progress in knowledge. Where could they acquire it, for, in gaining their liberty, they have seen nothing but camps and war?
Undated letter to Thomas Clarkson
Nothing short of absolute independence in both government and commerce will satisfy us. This we shall have or cease to live.
Letter to Thomas Clarkson, Sans Souci [February 5, 1816]
Denmark Vesey
1767–1822
The work of insurrection will go on.
Remark after being sentenced to death for planning slave rebellion1
Pierre Toussaint
1778–1853
I go to a great many places; I go into one house and they cry, cry, cry,—somebody dead. I go into another, and it is all laugh, laugh—they are happy and glad. I go to another, it is all shut up dark, they move very softly, they speak in a whisper,—somebody very sick. I come here it is all, dance and sing, and flowers and wedding dresses. I say nothing; but it makes me think a great deal.
Memoir of Pierre Toussaint [1853]
I have enough for myself, but if I stop work, I have not enough for others.
Response when the wealthy philanthropist was asked why he didn’t retire. Memoir of Pierre Toussaint
Peter Williams, Jr.
1780–1840
The festivities of this day serve but to impress upon the minds of reflecting men of color a deeper sense of the cruelty, the injustice, and oppression, of which they have been the victims. While others rejoice in their deliverance from a foreign yoke, they mourn that a yoke a thousandfold more grievous is fastened upon them. Alas, they are slaves in the midst of freedom; they are slaves to those who boast that freedom is the unalienable right of all; and the clanking of their fetters, and the voice of their wrongs, make a horrid discord in the songs of freedom which resound through the land.
Speech [July 4, 1830]2
We are NATIVES of this country, we ask only to be treated as well as FOREIGNERS. Not a few of our fathers suffered and bled to purchase its independence; we ask only to be treated as well as those who fought against it. We have toiled to cultivate it, and to raise it to its present prosperous condition; we ask only to share equal privileges with those who come from distant lands, to enjoy the fruits of our labor.
Speech
Jarena Lee
1783–c. 1855
If the man may preach, because the Saviour died for him, why not the woman? Seeing he died for her also. Is he not a whole Saviour, instead of a half one? As those who hold it wrong for a woman to preach, would seem to make it appear.
Religious Experience and Journal of Mrs. Jarena Lee [1849]
I felt as if aided from above. My tongue was cut loose, the stammerer spoke freely; the love of God, and of his service, burned with a vehement flame within me—his name was glorified among the people.
Religious Experience and Journal of Mrs. Jarena Lee
It is known that the blind have the sense of hearing in a manner much more acute than those who can see: also their sense of feeling is exceedingly fine, and is found to detect any roughness on the smoothest surface, where those who can see find none. So it may be with such as I am, who has never had more than three months schooling; and wishing to know much of the way and law of God, have therefore watched the more closely, the operations of the Spirit, and have in consequence been led thereby.
Religious Experience and Journal of Mrs. Jarena Lee
William Grimes
1784–1865
If it were not for the stripes on my back which were made while I was a slave, I would in my will leave my skin a legacy to the government, desiring that it might be taken off and made into parchment, and then bind the constitution of glorious happy and free America. Let the skin of an American slave bind the charter of American Liberty.
Life of William Grimes [1825]
David Walker
1785–1830
Having traveled over a considerable portion of these United States, and having, in the course of my travels, taken the most accurate observations of things as they exist—the result of my observations has warranted the full and unshaken conviction, that we, (coloured people of these United States,) are the most degraded, wretched, and abject set of beings that ever lived since the world began; and I pray God that none like us ever may live again until time shall be no more.
David Walker’s Appeal [1829]
I declare, it does appear to me, as though some nations think God is asleep, or that he made the Africans for nothing else but to dig their mines and work their farms, or they cannot believe history, sacred or profane.
David Walker’s Appeal
Are we MEN!!—I ask you, O my brethren! are we MEN? Did our creator make us to be slaves to dust and ashes like ourselves?
David Walker’s Appeal
The whites have always been an unjust, jealous, unmerciful, avaricious and blood-thirsty set of beings, always seeking after power and authority.
David Walker’s Appeal
Let no man of us budge one step and let slaveholders come to beat us from our country. America is more our country, than it is the whites—we have enriched it with our blood and tears.
David Walker’s Appeal
Throw away your fears and prejudices then, and enlighten us and treat us like men, and we will like you more than we do now hate you.… Americans, I declare to you, while you keep us and our children in bondage, and treat us like brutes, to make us support you and your families, we cannot be your friends. You do not look for it, do you? Treat us then like men, and we will be your friends.
David Walker’s Appeal
See your Declaration Americans!!! Do you understand your own language? Hear your language, proclaimed to the world, July 4th, 1776—“We hold these truths to be self evident—that ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL!! that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness!!” Compare your own language above, extracted from your Declaration of Independence, with your cruelties and murders inflicted by your cruel and unmerciful fathers and yourselves on our fathers and on us—men who have never given your fathers or you the least provocation!!!!!!
David Walker’s Appeal
Mary Prince
1788–1833
I was soon surrounded by strange men, who examined and handled me in the same manner that a butcher would a calf or a lamb he was about to purchase, and who talked about my shape and size in like words—as if I could no more understand their meaning than the dumb beasts.… When the sale was over, my mother hugged and kissed us, and mourned over us, begging of us to keep up a good heart, and do our duty to our new masters. It was a sad parting; one went one way, one another, and our poor mammy went home with nothing.
On being sold away from her family. The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave [1831]
I have been a slave myself—I know what slaves feel—I can tell by myself what other slaves feel, and by what they have told me. The man that says slaves be quite happy in slavery—that they don’t want to be free—that man is either ignorant or a lying person. I never heard a slave say so.
The History of Mary Prince
We don’t mind hard work, if we had proper treatment, and proper wages like English servants, and proper time given in the week to keep us from breaking the Sabbath. But they won’t give it: they will have work-work-work, night and day, sick or well, till we are quite done up; and we must not speak up nor look amiss, however much we be abused. And then when we are quite done up, who cares for us, more than for a lame horse? This is slavery.
The History of Mary Prince
Josiah Henson
1789–1883
[On Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by HARRIET BEECHER STOWE:] The truth has never been half-told; the story would be too horrible to hear. I could fill this book with cases that have come under my own experience and observation, by which I could prove that the slaveholder could and did break every one of the ten commandments with impunity.
Uncle Tom’s Story of His Life [1876], ch. 25
Samuel E[li] Cornish1
1795–1858
On our conduct, in great measure, their salvation depends. Let us show that we are worthy to be freemen; it will be the strongest appeal to the judgment and conscience of the slaveholder and his abettors, that can be furnished; and it will be a sure measure of our elevation in society, and to the possession of all of our rights, as men and citizens.
Responsibility of Colored Americans in Free States [March 4, 1837]. Editorial published in Colored American
You are COLORED AMERICANS. The Indians are RED AMERICANS and the white people are WHITE AMERICANS and you are as good as they are, and they are no better than you—God made all of the same blood.
Colored American [March 15, 1838]. Editorial
The time has come when the question has got to be met. When our friends must face it, if they are our friends, or do as some will, take to their heels and run. Prejudice against color, after all is the test question—at least among us.… Here comes the tug; and here our friends have to grapple with slavery not at arm’s length but with a backhold. Here the slimy serpent is among them coiled up in their own hearts and houses.
Colored American [June 9, 1838]. Editorial
Samuel E[li] Cornish
1795–1858
and
John B[rown] Russwurm
1799–1851
We wish to plead our own cause. Too long have others spoken for us. Too long has the public been deceived by misrepresentations, in things which concern us dearly.
Editor’s statement, first issue of Freedom’s Journal [March 16, 1827]1
Samuel E[li] Cornish
1795–1858
and
Theodore S. Wright
1797–1847
The question whether or not the colored man can “rise” in this country is, as yet wholly undecided. We do not pronounce that he could, or that he could not, for the experiment that will satisfy a philosophical mind as to either remains to be made.… Release him from his chains!—strike off his fetters!—relieve him from the stifling pressure of your own weight!—try him! and if, after time allowed for restoring the circulation of his blood to its free and wonted course, and for supplying his muscles, numbed and deadened by the ligatures that bind him—if after this, he be unable to rise, your assertion may gain credit but not until then.
The Colonization Scheme Considered [April 1, 1840]
Slaves, of any color, becoming free in countries where their own race are in bondage, show as much if not more eagerness (when they possess the means) to become masters, than such as are born free. And their treatment of their slaves is generally more cruel.
The Colonization Scheme Considered