Take us generally as a people, we are neither lazy nor idle; and considering how little we have to excite or stimulate us, I am almost astonished that there are so many industrious and ambitious ones to be found - although I acknowledge, with extreme sorrow, that there are some who never were and never will be serviceable to society. And have you not a similar class among yourselves?

Maria W. Stewart, America's First Black Woman Political Writer: Essays and Speeches (ed. Indiana University Press, 1987) - ISBN: 9780253363428