Imperialism Quotes

• I do not hesitate one second to state clearly and unmistakably: I belong to the American resistance movement which fights against American imperialism, just as the resistance movement fought against Hitler.

  Paul Robeson

  Fighting, Movement, Resistance

  Paul Robeson, Philip Sheldon Foner (1978). “Paul Robeson speaks: writings, speeches, interviews, 1918-1974”, Brunner-Routledge

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• There is no hierarchy of values by which one culture has the right to insist on all its own values and deny those of another.

  Margaret Mead

  Arrogance, Self Control, Culture

  Margaret Mead (2000). “And Keep Your Powder Dry: An Anthropologist Looks at America”, p.152, Berghahn Books

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• Imperialism is a system of exploitation that occurs not only in the brutal form of those who come with guns to conquer territory. Imperialism often occurs in more subtle forms, a loan, food aid, blackmail . We are fighting this system that allows a handful of men on earth to rule all of humanity.

  Thomas Sankara

  Fighting, Gun, Men

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• If it were necessary to give the briefest possible definition of imperialism, we should have to say that imperialism is the monopoly stage of capitalism.

  Vladimir Lenin

  Should Have, Giving, Definitions

  Vladimir Lenin (2010). “Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism”, p.57, Penguin UK

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• The greatest menace to the world today is the growing, exploiting, irresponsible imperialism.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  World, Growing, Today

  Mahatma Gandhi (1949). “Communal Unity”

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• Imperialism is an institution under which one nation asserts the right to seize the land or at least to control the government or resources of another people.

  John T. Flynn

  Peace, War, Government

  John Thomas Flynn (1944). “As We Go Marching”, p.213, Ludwig von Mises Institute

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• For behind all imperialism is ultimately the imperialistic individual, just as behind all peace is ultimately the peaceful individual.

  Irving Babbitt

  Love, Peace, Individual

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• ...because it is the very nature of Imperialism to turn humans into beasts.

  Che Guevara

  Nature, Beast, Turns

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• Imperialism leaves behind germs of rot which we must clinically detect and remove from our land but from our minds as well.

  Frantz Fanon

  Land, Mind, Germs

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• I am an anti-imperialist. I am opposed to having the eagle put its talons on any other land.

  Mark Twain

  War, Eagles, Land

  Mark Twain (1970). “King Leopold's Soliloquy”, p.8, LeftWord Books

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• Imperialism is the underlying motor of racism. The underlying reason that racism keeps on being promoted in all of its various forms.

  Assata Shakur

  Racism, Reason, Form

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• Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Leadership, Presidential, Sticks

  Letter to Henry L. Sprague, 26 Jan. 1900

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• The truth is that neither British nor American imperialism was or is idealistic. It has always been driven by economic or strategic interests.

  Charley Reese

  Peace, War, Truth Is

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• Imperialism was born when the ruling class in capitalist production came up against national limits to its economic expansion.

  Hannah Arendt

  Class, Expansion, Limits

  Hannah Arendt (1968). “Imperialism: Part Two Of The Origins Of Totalitarianism”, p.18, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• Imperialism creates the illusion of wealth as far as the masses are concerned. It usually serves to hide the fact that the ruling classes are gobbling up the natural resources of the home territory in an improvident manner and are otherwise utilizing the national wealth largely for their own purposes. Eventually the general public is called upon to pay for all of this, frequently after the military machine can no longer maintain external aggression.

  Jack D. Forbes

  Military, Home, Class

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• Who are we to say what's right for civilizations that were already thousands of years old when our own nation came into being?

  Unita Blackwell

  Years, Civilization, Nations

  Unita Blackwell, JoAnne Prichard Morris (2006). “Barefootin': Life Lessons from the Road to Freedom”, Crown

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• Imperialism is a negation of God. It does ungodly acts in the name of God.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  God, Names, Doe

  Mahatma Gandhi (1949). “Communal Unity”

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• Imperialism as he [Kipling] sees it is a sort of forcible evangelising.

  George Orwell

  Kipling

  "All Art Is Propaganda: Critical Essays".

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• Even today to be civilised is held to be synonymous with being westernised. Advanced countries devote large resources to formulating and spreading ideas and doctrines and they tend to impose on the developing nations their own norms and methods. The pattern of the classical acquisitive society with its deliberate multiplication of wants not only is unsuited to conditions in our countries but is positively harmful.

  Indira Gandhi

  Country, Ideas, Doctrine

  Indira Gandhi (1971). “Selected Speeches of Indira Gandhi: The years of challenge, January 1966-August 1969”

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• Shall we go on conferring our Civilization upon the peoples that sit in darkness, or shall we give those poor things a rest?

  Mark Twain

  Civilization, Giving, Darkness

  Mark Twain (2004). “The Portable Mark Twain”, p.495, Penguin

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• Hollywood and Disneyland are the legacy of Europe's cultural imperialism. We gave them nursery rhymes and they gave back film. Televised riots are as American as Barbie/ Big Macs. Tomorrow the riots will be forgotten but Mickey mouse will still be there. Welcome to Disneyland.

  Richey Edwards

  Fear, Europe, Barbie

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• Imperialism is capitalism at that stage of development at which the dominance of monopolies and finance capitalism is established; in which the export of capital has acquired pronounced importance; in which the division of the world among the international trusts has begun, in which the division of all territories of the globe among the biggest capitalist powers has been completed.

  Vladimir Lenin

  Development, World, Territory

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• Western interests: imperialism, colonialism, exploitation, racism, and other negative -isms.

  Malcolm X

  Racism, Colonialism, Negative

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• 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.

  Joseph Conrad

  Peace, Mean, Racism

  Heart of Darkness ch. 1 (1902)

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• What we have is a more sophisticated form of imperialism, which is economic. But lurking in the background, always ready to go, is an armed force.

  Howard Zinn

  Sophisticated, Economic, Form

  Source: bad.eserver.org

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