"And that servant which knew his Lord's will... which knew his Lord's will and prepared not himself... prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes..." D'ye hear that? "Stripes." That **** that don't take care, that don't obey his lord - that's his master - d'ye see? - that 'ere **** shall be beaten with many stripes. Now, "many" signifies a great many. Forty, a hundred, a hundred and fifty lashes... That's Scripture.
Solomon Northup
Chiwetel Ejiofor · 10 quotes
Edwin Epps
Michael Fassbender · 7 quotes
Clemens
Chris Chalk · 3 quotes
John Tibeats
Paul Dano · 2 quotes
Most scenes together: Solomon Northup & Edwin Epps (2), Solomon Northup & Clemens (2)
12 Years a Slave quotes
Page 1 of 2If you want to survive, do and say as little as possible. Tell no one who you really are and tell no one that you can read and write. Unless you want to be a dead ****.
Bass The law says you have the right to hold a ****, but begging the law's pardon... it lies. Is everything right because the law allows it? Suppose they'd pass a law taking away your liberty and making you a slave?
Ha!
Bass Suppose!
That ain't a supposable case.
Bass Because the law states that your liberties are undeniable? Because society deems it so? Laws change. Social systems crumble. Universal truths are constant. It is a fact, it is a plain fact that what is true and right is true and right for all. White and black alike.
Burch Well, my boy, how yah feel now?
I am Solomon Northup. I am a free man; a resident of Saratoga, New York. The residence also of my wife and children who are equally free. I have papers. You have no right whatsoever to detain me...
Burch Yah not any...
And I promise you - I promise - upon my liberation I will have satisfaction for this wrong.
Burch Resolve this. Produce your papers.
Burch [Solomon searches and finds no papers]
Yah no free man. And yah ain't from Saratoga. Yah from Georgia. Yah ain't a free man. Yah nuthin' but a Georgia runaway. Yah a runaway **** from Georgia.
[about an outbreak of Cotton worm]
A plague! It's damn Biblical. Two season God done sent a plague to smite me. I am near ruination. Why, Treach? What I done that God hate me so? Do I not preach His word?
Treach The whole Bayou sufferin'.
I don't care nothin' fer the damn Bayou. I'm sufferin'. [looks at the slaves] It's that Godless lot. They brought this on me. I bring 'em God's word, and heathens they are, they brung me God's scorn.
[Having awakened Solomon in the middle of the night, Epps coaxes him outside, puts his arm around him as if consoling a friend, and guides him into the woods]
Well, boy. I understand I've got a larned **** that writes letters and tries to get white fellows to mail 'em. Well, Armsby tol' me today the devil was among my ****. That I had one that needed close watchin' or he would run away. When I axed him why, he said you come over to him and waked him up in the middle of the night and wanted him to carry a letter to Marksville. What have yah got to say to that?
There is no truth in it.
You say.
How could I write a letter without ink or paper? There is nobody I want to write to 'cause I hain't got no friends living as I know of. That Armsby is a lying drunken fellow. You know this, just as you know that I am constant in truth. Now, master, I can see what that Armsby is after, plain enough. Didn't he want you to hire him for an overseer? That's it. He wants to make you believe we're all going to run away and then he thinks you'll hire an overseer to watch us. He believes you are soft soap. He's given to such talk. I believe he's just made this story out of whole cloth, 'cause he wants to get a situation. It's all a lie, master, you may depend on't. It's all a lie.
[reveals a pocket knife he'd had pressed against Solomon's gut the entire time]
Well I'll be damned... Were he not free and white, Platt. Were he not free and white.
Ford
I believe Tibeats is skulkin' about the premises somewhere. He wants you dead, and he will attempt to have you so. It's no longer safe for you here. And I don't believe you will remain passive if Tibeats attacks. I have transferred my debt to Edwin Epps. He will take charge of you.
Master Ford, you must know; I am not a slave.
Ford
I cannot hear that.
Before I came to you I was a free man.
Ford
I am trying to save your life! And... I have a debt to be mindful of. That, now, is to Edwin Epps. He is a hard man. Prides himself on being a "**** breaker." But truthfully I could find no others who would have you. You've made a reputation of yourself. Whatever your circumstances, you are an exceptional ****, Platt. I fear no good will come of it.
Mary Epps
[about Patsey]
You will remove that black bitch from this property, or I'll take myself back to Cheneyville.
Back to the hogs's trough where I found you? Do not set yourself against Patsey, my dear. Cos I will rid myself of you well before I do away with her.
Mary Epps
Where you from, Platt?
I have told you.
Mary Epps
Tell me again.
Washington.
Mary Epps
Who were your Master?
Master name of Freeman.
Mary Epps
Was he a learned man?
I suppose so.
Mary Epps
He learn you to read?
A word here or there, but I have no understanding of the written text.
Mary Epps
Don't trouble yourself with it. Same as the rest, Master bought you to work, that's all. Any more'll earn you a hundred lashes.
Patsey I went to Massa Shaw's plantation!
Ya admit it.
Patsey Freely. And you know why? [she produces a piece of soap from the pocket of her dress] I got this from Mistress Shaw. Mistress Epps won't even grant me no soap ta clean with. Stink so much I make myself gag. Five hundred pounds 'a cotton day in, day out. More than any man here. And 'fo that I will be clean; that all I ax. Dis here what I went to Shaw's 'fo.
You lie...
Patsey The Lord knows that's all.
You lie!
Patsey And you blind wit yer own covetousness. I don't lie, Massa. If you kill me, I'll stick ta that.
I'll learn you to go to Shaw's. Treach, go get some line.
Robert I say we fight.
The crew is fairly small. If it were well planned, I believe they could be strong armed.
Three can't stand against a whole crew. The rest here are ****, born and bred slaves. **** ain't got the stomach for a fight, not a damn one.
Robert All I know, we get where we traveling we'll wish we'd died trying.
Survival is not about certain death, it is about keeping your head down.
Days ago I was with my family, in my home. Now you tell me all is lost. "Tell no one who I really am" if I want to survive. I don't want to survive, I want to live.
[Epps has just whipped Patsey within an inch of her life]
Thou devil! Sooner or later, somewhere in the course of eternal justice thou shalt answer for this sin!
No sin! There is no sin! A man does how he pleases with his property. At the moment, Platt, I am of great pleasure. You be goddamn careful I don't come to wantin' to lightenin' my mood no further.
[Solomon awakens Armsby in the middle of the night. He offers him a handful of coins]
The proceeds of my fiddling performances. A few picayunes, but all I have in the world. I promise them to you if you will do me the favor I require. But I beg you not to expose me if you cannot grant the request.
Armsby What do you ask?
First, your word, sir.
Armsby On my honor.
It is a simple enough request. I ask only that you deposit a letter in the Marksville post office. And that you keep the action an inviolable secret forever. The details of the letter are of no consequence. Even at that, there would be an imposition of much pain and suffering were it known I was the author. A patron is what I require, sir.
Armsby Where is the letter now?
It is not yet written. I will have it in a day. Two at most, my skill with composition as poor as it is.
Armsby I will do it. And will accept whatever payment is offered.
We need a sympathetic ear. If we have an opportunity to explain our situation...
Who in your estimation is that sympathetic ear?
The two men I journeyed with. I'm certain they're making inquires at this very moment.
I would be just as certain they are counting the money paid for delivering you to this place.
They were not kidnappers. They were artists. Fellow performers.
You know that? You know for certain who they were?
[Solomon cannot answer]
How I reckon the situation: whatever past we had... well, that's done now. The reality to come is us being transported southward. New Orleans if I were to venture. After we arrive, we'll be put to market. Beyond that... Well, once in a slave state I suppose there's only one outcome.
[singing]
Run **** run, run so fast/Stoved his head in a hornets nest/Run **** run well the pattyroller'll get you/ Run **** run well you better get away.