I am an abolitionist, without reservation; I am a citizen; I believe I have done my duty. - Luís Gama

Under the law, the crime of murder perpetrated by the slave on the person of the master is justifiable

There are scenes of such greatness, or of such misery, that being complete in their kind, they cannot be described; the world and the atom define themselves; thus, crime and virtue keep the same proportion; thus, the slave who kills the master, who fulfills an inevitable prescription of natural right, and the unworthy people, who murder heroes, will never be mixed.

Historian Lígia Ferreira. Source: Obra de Luiz Gama revela a luta por um Brasil sem reis ou escravos.