Thomas Day (writer)

I never thought I had a right to sacrifice another being to my own good or pleasure; but whatever else ensued you would be placed in circumstances infinitely more favourable to happiness than before.

Thomas Day (22 June 1748 – 28 September 1789) was a British author and abolitionist. He is best known for writing the book The History of Sandford and Merton which emphasized Rousseauvian educational ideals.

Quotes

If there be an object truly ridiculous in nature, it is an American patriot, signing resolutions of independency with the one hand, and with the other brandishing a whip over his affrighted slaves.

• I never thought I had a right to sacrifice another being to my own good or pleasure; but whatever else ensued you would be placed in circumstances infinitely more favourable to happiness than before.
  • In a letter to Sabrina Sidney, whom Day attempted to groom into the "perfect wife", explaining his behaviour towards her; as quoted in How to Create the Perfect Wife: The True Story of One Gentleman, Two Orphans and an Experiment to Create the Ideal Woman (2013), Weidenfeld & Nicolson, p. 115
• If there be an object truly ridiculous in nature, it is an American patriot, signing resolutions of independency with the one hand, and with the other brandishing a whip over his affrighted slaves.
  • Written in response to the publication of the United States Declaration of Independence in 1776, attacking the hypocrisy of American Patriots owning slaves while demanding independence; as quoted in Fragment of an original letter on the slavery of the negroes : written in the year 1776 (1836), Garrison and Knapp, p. 10