John Brown

"The greatest monument we can leave is a freer nation."

"I am ready to meet my maker with a clear conscience."

"The world must understand that slavery is an abomination."

"I have lived to see the beginning of change, and that is enough."

"The light of truth cannot be hidden forever."

"A man's final judgment belongs to God alone."

"I have fought not out of hatred, but out of love for humanity."

"The chains of slavery must be broken by those who have the will to break them."

"I am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood."

"Now, let it be borne in mind that the Boston tea party was mere child's play to the oppression we have endured."

"I have, I think, a modest estimate of my own ability. I merely think I am not a coward."

"The great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearances, as though they were realities."

"I would rather be the wife of a slave who fights for his freedom than of a king who accepts slavery."

"Resistance to tyranny becomes the Christian and social duty of each individual."

"It is not granted to us to know which of our deeds or words will prove important."

"The soul that has no fixed purpose in life is lost."

"Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins."

"I feel assured that there is no cause now in this world so holy as the cause of human freedom."

"Do not say 'if' - say 'since we shall certainly succeed.'"

"A man who has not thought much on the subject would hardly suppose the very great disadvantage under which we labor."

"I believe to have interfered as I have done, as I have always openly avowed I intended to do, was not wrong but right."

"The time of our visitation has come, and now we must prepare."

"I am here but as a private in an army of the Lord."

"The Bible and the Declaration of Independence are both documents of human liberation."

"We have a right and a duty to take up arms against injustice."

"I humbly submit myself to the will of the Almighty."

"My great concern is to be faithful, not to be successful."

"I am confident that my life is not to be spared much longer on this earth."

"The way of transgressors is hard, and it becomes harder the further they proceed."

"I have always been of the opinion that the master of our fate is ourselves."