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.

Your worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your own thoughts, unguarded.

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

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

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

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

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

If you wish to avoid foreign collision, you had better abandon the ocean.

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.

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.

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.

By nature, men are nearly alike; by practice, they get to be wide apart.