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.

No man has any natural authority over his fellow man.

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

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.

I do desire we may be better strangers.

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

The less intelligent the white man is, the more stupid he thinks the black.

Who sees all beings in his own self, and his own self in all beings, loses all fear.

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

Children are all foreigners. We treat them as such.

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