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Quotes

At the bottom of enmity between strangers lies indifference.

—Søren Kierkegaard, 1850

No man has any natural authority over his fellow man.

—Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1762

When the missionaries first came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said, “Let us pray.” We closed our eyes. When we opened them, we had the Bible and they had the land.

—Desmond Tutu, 1984

There are chance meetings with strangers that interest us from the first moment, before a word is spoken.

—Fyodor Dostoevsky, 1866

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

—William Hazlitt, 1823

Let the French but have England, and they won’t want to conquer it.

—Horace Walpole, 1745

This is not a clash between civilizations. It is a clash about civilization.

—Tony Blair, 2006

Strangers are an endangered species.

—Adrienne Rich, 1980

To need to dominate others is to need others. The commander is dependent.

—Fernando Pessoa, c. 1935

No nation is fit to sit in judgment upon any other nation.

—Woodrow Wilson, 1915

It’s good to remember that in crises, natural crises, human beings forget for a while their ignorances, their biases, their prejudices. For a little while, neighbors help neighbors and strangers help strangers.

—Maya Angelou, 2011

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.

—Francis Grose, 1787
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