Quotes from Amy Belding Brown

Mam once told me the name Margaret means pearl. She said a pearl's the only jewel that needs no cutting or polishing. Comes perfect from the hand of God Himself. And I ought to be treasuring myself like one.

How strange that venturing away from accepted wisdom was the very path by which she found herself

He said that God always weeps when men and women are cruel—to each other, to animals. To the earth itself. He said that Christ's kingdom will only come when we learn to be deeply kind. He told me to remember that while we draw breath, there will always be some way we can show kindness.

The life of woman must be outwardly a well-intentioned, cheerful dissimulation of her real life. —MARGARET FULLER

A captive may sing but still perish

Love goes where it will, and the attempt to redirect it actually corrupts it.

They do not want the truth. They want to hear details that will confirm their misconceptions, that will validate their fears.

Our soul, as bird, escapéd is out of the fowler's snare: the snare asunder broken is; and we delivered are. —Psalm 124, Verse 7 The Bay Psalm Book,* 1640

Love was not something that fell on a person out of a clear sky, but a warm affection that slowly grew from years of sharing life's toils.

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

Words are like charms, she realizes. If said often enough, they will make it so

There is much happiness to be found in acceptance

We have both bought our redemption at a terrible price. You had to forge a lie. I had to bring in the heads of innocent men. We have both sold our souls to gain acceptance in this new and terrible world

in appearance and background

She whirls around and around in her red English stockings and white moccasins, her cloak of wampum and feathers flying out around her like the wings of a great hawk.