12 Years a Slave quotes

I don't want to survive. I want to live.

Solomon Northup

Brown: Circus too constricting a word to describe the talented and merry band with which we travel. It is a spectacle unlike most have ever witnessed. Creatures from the darkest Africa as yet unseen by civilized man. Acrobats from the Orient able to contort themselves in the most confounding manners.
Hamilton: And I myself in aide of Mr. Brown; an internationally renowned practitioner in the art of prestidigitation.

Brown, Solomon Northup

Hamilton: I'm afraid that Brown and I haven't brought you much luck. But rough waters bring smooth sailing. Eventually they do.
Solomon Northup: So... so sorry...
Hamilton: Shhh. We won't hear it. We won't.
Brown: Let him sleep.
Hamilton: Hmm. A good night's sleep. And tomorrow... tomorrow you will feel as well and refreshed as though the earth were new again.
Brown: Hamilton! Nothing more we can do for him.
Hamilton: Such is the pity.

Brown, Solomon Northup