“Slaves are generally expected to sing as well as to work.”

“Well, I try my best to be just like I am,But everybody wants you to be just like them,They sing while you slave and I just get bored”

“And it came to Marcus suddenly that slaves very seldom whistled. They might sing, if they felt like it or if the rhythm helped their work, but whistling was in some way different; it took a free man to make the sort of noise Esca was making.”

“Slaves sing most when they are most unhappy. The songs of the slave represent the sorrows of his heart; and he is relieved by them, only as an aching heart is relieved by its tears.”

“A few slave holders were undeniably cruel. Examples of slaves beaten to death were not common, neither were they unknown. The majority of slave holders treated their slaves well.”

“I am according to my slave's expectations of me: if good, then good, and if bad, then bad.”