I want to be the white man’s brother, not his brother-in-law.

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.

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

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

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.

The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.

All men naturally hate each other. We have used concupiscence as best we can to make it serve the common good, but this is mere sham and a false image of charity, for essentially it is just hate.

Nationalism is an infantile disease, the measles of mankind.

A criminal may improve and become a decent member of society. A foreigner cannot improve. Once a foreigner, always a foreigner. There is no way out for him.

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

Patriotism is an ephemeral motive that scarcely ever outlasts the particular threat to society that aroused it.

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