Many need no other provocation to enmity than that they find themselves excelled.

Of troubles none is greater than to be robbed of one’s native land.

Other nations use “force”; we Britons alone use “might.”

To think ill of mankind, and not wish ill to them, is perhaps the highest wisdom and virtue.

The misfortune of the man of color is having been enslaved. The misfortune and inhumanity of the white man are having killed man somewhere.

In settling an island, the first building erected by a Spaniard will be a church, by a Frenchman a fort, by a Dutchman a warehouse, and by an Englishman an alehouse.

The almost insoluble task is to let neither the power of others, nor our own powerlessness, stupefy us.

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.

The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much.

Africa has her mysteries, and even a wise man cannot understand them. But a wise man respects them.

Some of us would be greatly astonished to learn the reasons why others respect us.

All of life is a foreign country.

Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.