This paper presents a selection of quotes and stories, taken from a collection of 655 quotes by migrants and asylum seekers who are on the move along various migration routes out of the Horn of Africa. Instead of writing about these migrants, this paper gives a direct voice to the migrants and therefore gives full authorship to the migrants themselves, and to those who interviewed them. The selected quotes have been taken from interviews conducted with almost 3,500 migrants from Ethiopia, Somalia and Eritrea in various locations between late 2014 and April 2017 and are presented thematically in this paper. All quotes refer to human rights and protection issues during migration journeys and provide a vivid account of the various and harsh abuses migrants are facing during their migration trajectories. The quotes also point to high levels of involvement of certain state officials in both the facilitation of migration as well as various forms of abusive practices towards migrants. They illustrate that human smuggling, having many similarities with human trafficking, is very far from being a victimless crime.