Everyone confesses that exertion which brings out all the powers of body and mind is the best thing for us; but most people do all they can to get rid of it, and as a general rule nobody does much more than circumstances drive them to do.

Her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) was a depiction of life for African-Americans under slavery; it reached millions as a novel and play and became influential in the United States and United Kingdom. I will only say now that it was all very funny—and we were ready to explode with laughter all the while. It energized anti-slavery forces in the American North while provoking widespread anger in the South.