“The great powers have dominated the destiny of the Islamic countries for years and… installed the Zionist cancerous tumor in the heart of the Islamic world… Many of the problems facing the Muslim world are due to the existence of the Zionist regime.”— Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, timesofisrael.com
“Our magnanimous Imam (r.a.) managed to restore our dignity and eliminate the long-standing hegemony of autocracy and colonialism by returning to Islam, by adhering to Islam. He managed to give our people a sense of identity and made them feel that they can stand on their own feet, that they can say…”— Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, english.khamenei.ir
“There's an awful lot of countries in the Middle East that, as a consequence of two centuries of activities of colonial Europe and conflicts with—between the Ottoman Empire and so on, that have been left with very significant difficulties to overcome in terms of reconciling the population there—the m…”— Joe Biden, npr.org
“It is true that they looked upon any little thing that I gave them as a wonder, and they held our arrival to be a great marvel, believing that we came from heaven.”— Christopher Columbus, eada.lib.umd.edu
“We understood that they asked us if we had come from heaven. One old man came into the boat, and others cried out, in loud voices, to all the men and women, to come and see the men who had come from heaven, and to bring them to eat and drink. Many came, including women, each bringing something, givi…”— Christopher Columbus, eada.lib.umd.edu
“They do not know any religion, and I believe they could easily be converted to Christianity, for they are very intelligent.”— Christopher Columbus, eada.lib.umd.edu
“The people are very docile, and for the longing to possess our things, and not having anything to give in return, they take what they can get, and presently swim away.”— Christopher Columbus, eada.lib.umd.edu
“At three o’clock I sent the ship’s boat on shore for water, and the natives with good will showed my people where the water was, and they themselves brought the full casks down to the boat and did all they could to please us.”— Christopher Columbus, eada.lib.umd.edu
“These people are very simple as regards the use of arms, as your Highnesses will see from the seven that I caused to be taken, to bring home and learn our language and return; unless your Highnesses should order them all to be brought to Castile, or to be kept as captives on the same island; for wit…”— Christopher Columbus, americanyawp.com
“This island even exceeds the others in beauty and fertility. Groves of lofty and flourishing trees are abundant, as also large lakes, surrounded and overhung by the foliage, in a most enchanting manner. Everything looked as green as in April in Andalusia. The melody of the birds was so exquisite tha…”— Christopher Columbus, sourcebooks.fordham.edu
“They go as naked as when their mothers bore them, and so do the women, although I did not see more than one young girl. All I saw were youths, none more than thirty years of age. They are very well made, with very handsome bodies, and very good countenances. Their hair is short and coarse, almost li…”— Christopher Columbus, americanyawp.com
“I shall penetrate so far as to reach the village and see or speak with the king, who, as they tell us, governs all these islands, and goes dressed, with a great deal of gold about him. I do not, however, give much credit to these accounts, as I understand the natives but imperfectly, and perceive th…”— Christopher Columbus, sourcebooks.fordham.edu
“They are all very level, without mountains, exceedingly fertile and populous, the inhabitants living at war with one another, although a simple race, and with delicate bodies.”— Christopher Columbus, sourcebooks.fordham.edu
“Here the fish are so dissimilar to ours that it is wonderful. Some are shaped like dories, of the finest hues in the world, blue, yellow, red, and every other color, some variegated with a thousand different tints, so beautiful that no one on beholding them could fail to express the highest wonder a…”— Christopher Columbus, sourcebooks.fordham.edu
“We say no to whites owning our land and they should go.… They can own companies and apartments…but not the soil. It is ours and that message should ring loud and clear in Britain and the United States…. There are white farmers who are still on the land…. That should never happen. They [whites] were…”— Robert Mugabe, csmonitor.com
“Ghana was a particularly relevant example for us subjects in the remaining colonies and dominions of the British Empire. There was a growing confidence, not just a feeling, that we would do just as well parting ways with Her Majesty’s empire. If Ghana seemed more effective, as some of our people lik…”— Chinua Achebe, amazon.com
“A Conrad student informed me in Scotland that Africa is merely a setting for the disintegration of the mind of Mr. Kurtz. Which is partly the point. Africa as setting and backdrop which eliminates the African as human factor. Africa as a metaphysical battlefield devoid of all recognizable humanity,…”— Chinua Achebe, amazon.com
“I wanted to conquer Rhodesia because I truly believe that Africa would be happier, richer and safer as part of the British Empire. People say that this empire-building was all about ‘taking’ and ‘stealing’: but life in Rhodesia was very good – even for the people we conquered.”— Cecil Rhodes, amazon.com
“When I left England for the first time in 1871 much of the world had already been colonised by Britain: Australia in 1770; India in 1757, and Canada in 1763. South Africa, however, was only partly controlled by Britain, and I saw this as a place where I might become as famous as Captain Cook, Robert…”— Cecil Rhodes, amazon.com
“I wish these history teachers would be more accurate! I did not ‘conquer South Africa’ – I conquered the land to the north of the present country of South Africa: a place that was named, in my honour, Rhodesia.”— Cecil Rhodes, amazon.com