There is no king who has not had a slave among his ancestors, and no slave who has not had a king among his.

Every king springs from a race of slaves, and every slave had kings among his ancestors.

A king is history's slave.

Kings are the slaves of history.

There has never been a slave who did not choose to be a slave,

I was a king and a king's heir and now I am a slave.

Having slaves for ancestors is not something to be ashamed of; one should be proud to know that one's ancestors were strong enough to live through the horrors of slavery, strong because of the rich and beautiful history of Africa. We are taught that Africans were savages, and this makes us non-consciously ashamed of our past.

A born king is a very rare being.

Other monarchs may have one son or two sons; I have thousands of sons, my Turkish slaves who will be the heirs of my dominions, and who, after me, will take care to preserve my name in the Khuṭbah (Friday sermon) throughout these territories

Before God, there is neither Greek nor barbarian, neither rich nor poor; and the slave is as good as his master, for by birth all men are free; they are citizens of that universal commonwealth which embraces all the world, brethren of one family, and children of God.

Our most cruel enemies are our nearest in blood!... Kings have neither brothers, nor sons, nor mothers.

The news that my ancestors owned slaves disturbs and saddens me, but the topic of slavery has always bothered me. My family's complicated story is similar to Virginia's complex history. We're a progressive state, but we once had the largest number of slaves in the union.

Thus, a good man, though a slave, is free; but a wicked man, though a king, is a slave. For he serves, not one man alone, but what is worse, as many masters as he has vices.

Every man a king, but no one wears a crown.