Henry Morton Stanley

“We have attacked and destroyed 28 large towns, and 3 or 4 score villages.”

“I desire some generous and opulent philanthropist, who shall permit me a force for commerce in central Africa.”

“Religion acts as a moral gardener, to weed out, or suppress, evil tendencies, which, like weeds: grow.”

“[The whole Congo without—the lower Congo] isn't worth a penny.”

“Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”

“Only by proving that we are superior to the savages, not only through our power to kill them but through our entire way of life, can we control them as they are now, in their present stage; it is necessary for their own well-being, even more than ours.”

“The barge was an invention of my own. It was 40 feet long, 6 feet beam, and 30 inches deep, of Spanish cedar 3/8 inches thick.”

“I am certain that not one of the countries who are invited by the newspapers to put itself in its (Belgium's) place would have been able to do better.”

“As seen in my loneliness, there was this difference between the Bible and the newspapers. The one reminded one that, apart from God, my life was but a bubble of air, and it bade me remember my Creator; the other fostered arrogance and loneliness.”

“Socialism is a return to primitive conditions.”

“Though many illusions are of a character we should gladly cherish, yet the sooner we lose some of them, the sooner we gain the power of seeing clearly into things. The one who possesses least has the best chance of becoming wise. The man who travels, and reflects, loses illusions faster than he who stays at home.”

“You can find it on almost any tree. As we made our way through the forest, it was literally raining rubber juice. Our clothes were full of it. The Congo has so many tributaries that a well-organized company can easily extract a few tons of rubber per year here. You only have to sail up such a river and the branches with rubber hang almost up to your ship.”