Quotes from book

The Underground Railroad

“Stolen bodies working stolen land. It was an engine that did not stop, its hungry boiler fed with blood.”

Colson Whitehead book The Underground Railroad

Source: The Underground Railroad

“Slavery is a sin when whites were put to the yoke, but not the African. All men are created equal, unless we decide you are not a man.”

Colson Whitehead book The Underground Railroad

Source: The Underground Railroad

“The whites came to this land for a fresh start and to escape the tyranny of their masters, just as the freemen had fled theirs. But the ideals they held up for themselves, they denied others.”

Colson Whitehead book The Underground Railroad

Source: The Underground Railroad

“Cora didn't know what optimistic meant. She asked the other girls that night if they were familiar with the word. None of them had heard it before. She decided that it meant trying.”

Colson Whitehead book The Underground Railroad

Source: The Underground Railroad

“Truth was a changing display in a shop window, manipulated by hands when you weren’t looking, alluring and ever out of reach.”

Colson Whitehead book The Underground Railroad

Source: The Underground Railroad