Africa

I who have cursed The drunken officer of British rule, how choose Between this Africa and the English tongue I love? Betray them both, or give back what they give? How can I face such slaughter and be cool? How can I turn from Africa and live?

—Walcott, Derek Alton

We carry with us the wonders we seek without us: there is all Africa and her prodigies in us.

—Browne, SirThomas

Au contraire de l'Europe¤  en classique, le Ne¤  gro-Africain ne se distingue pas de l'objet, il ne le tient pas a'   distance, il ne le regarde pas, il ne l'analyse pas† Il le touche, il le palpe, il le sent. Unliketheclassical European, the Black-Africandoesnot distinguish himself from an object. He does not hold it at a distance, he does not look at it, he does not examine it† He touches it, he fingers it, he feels it.

—Senghor, Le¤  opold Se¤  dar

   I am a woman and a woman of Africa. I am a daughter of Nigeria and if she is in shame, I shall stayand mourn with her in shame.

—Emecheta, Buchi

My map of Africa liesin Europe.Here lies Russia and here lies France, and we are in the middle. That is my map of Africa.

—of)

I'd the upbringing a nun would envy† Until I was fifteen I was more familiar with Africa than my own body.

—Orton,Joe originally John Kingsley

Poverty has a home in Africaölike a quiet second skin.It may be the only place on earth where it is worn with unconscious dignity.

—Head, Bessie

The Europeans have scarcely visited any coast, but to gratify avarice, and extend corruption; to arrogate dominion without right, and practice cruelty without incentive† But there isreason to hope†that the light of the gospel will at last illuminate the sands of Africa, and the deserts of America, though its progress cannot but be slow when it is so much obstructed by the lives of Christians.

—Johnson, Samuel known as Dr Johnson

   We spent a lot of time talking about Africa, as we should. Africa is a nation that suffers from incredible disease.

—Bush, GeorgeW(alker)

I'll love you dear, I'll love you Till China and Africa meet And the river jumps over the mountain And the salmon sing in the street, I'll love you till the ocean Is folded and hung up to dry And the seven starsgo squawking Like geese about the sky.

—Auden,W(ystan) H(ugh)

West Africa today is just a quarry of paving stones for Hell, and those stones were cemented in place with

—Kingsley, Mary Henrietta

What is Africa to me: Copper sun or scarlet sea, Jungle star or jungle track, Strong bronzed men, or regal black Women from whose loins I sprang When the birds of Eden sang?

—Cullen, Countee

One three centuries removed From the scenes his fathers loved, Spicy grove, cinnamon tree, What is Africa to me?

—Cullen, Countee

From Greenland's icy mountains, From India's coral strand, Where Afric's sunny fountains Roll down their coral strand.

—Heber, Reginald

When a white man in Africa by accident looks into the eyes of a native and sees the human being (which it ishis chief preoccupation to avoid), his sense of guilt, which he denies, fumes up in resentment and he brings down the whip.

—Lessing, Doris May ne¤  e Tayler