France has neither winter, summer, nor morals—apart from these drawbacks it is a fine country.

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

No man has any natural authority over his fellow man.

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.

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.

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

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

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

One of the most time-consuming things is to have an enemy.

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

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