Henry Morton Stanley Quotes

“In six harrowing weeks of travel I felt I had touched the heart of Africa and found it broken.”
― Tim Butcher, Blood River: A Journey to Africa’s Broken Heart

“He [Stanley] had stated that he longed to do something wonderful for the African tribes along the Congo, and instead, as would become all too apparent, had set them up for a terrible fate. In 1877 he came down the great river as the first European ever to do so, declaring his hope that the Congo should become like `a torch to those who sought to do good'." Instead, it became the torch that attracted the archexploiter King Leopold II of Belgium.”
― Tim Jeal, Stanley: The Impossible Life of Africa's Greatest Explorer

“Stanley must have realized that this postponement would probably be fatal. But while he did not give up, he never for a moment thought of abandoning his African quest [...] Yet Stanley still longed for the security of marriage, and hoped he could find Livingstone and marry Katie. [...] The romantic side of his nature told him that their story ought to end in marriage: the workhouse boy, having distinguished himself beyond all expectations, weds the daughter of the respectable local gentleman, and they live happily ever afterwards in a big house
[...] But Katie had never understood his inner conviction of being chosen for a great task.”
― Tim Jeal, Stanley: The Impossible Life of Africa's Greatest Explorer

“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. (Stanley writes this on his first expidition commissioned by King Leopold II of Belgium after describing with horror the horrible scenes of atrocities and cannibalism that take place in the Congo.)”
― Henry M. Stanley, Through the Dark Continent:Volume 1

“These expeditions respond to an extraordinarily civilizing Christian idea: to abolish slavery in Africa, to dispel the darkness that still reigns in part of the world, to get to know the resources that seem gigantic, in short, pouring out the treasures of civilization, that's it. purpose of this modern crusade worthy of our era.”
― Leopold II

“The terms of the treaties Stanley has made with native chiefs do not satisfy me. There must at least be an added article to the effect that they delegate to us their sovereign rights, the treaties must be as brief as possible and in a couple of articles must grant us everything.”
― Leopold II

“You should purchase as much land as you will be able to obtain without losing one minute from all the chiefs from the mouth of the Congo to Stanley falls, i will send you more people and raw materials, and perhaps Chinese couriers.”
― Leopold II

“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.”
― Henry M. Stanley, Through the Dark Continent:Volume 1

“I was received with an overwhelming display of military and civilian tributes, all the way to the royal palace where I was to stay, troops were lined up behind which enthusiastic people were chanting their viva, it seemed to me that a major change had come in the Belgian public opinion on the importance of the Congo, when I first went there, the Belgian newspapers spouted nothing but criticism, they were completely dumbfounded, the king was recognized as the great benefactor of the nation.”
― Henry M. Stanley

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

“Stanley shoots negroes as if they where monkeys.”
― Richard Francis Burton

“The desert reveals its secrets; the great mystery of interior Africa is revealed day by day.”
― Emile Banning

“Het hart van Afrika belandde pas later, bijna stoemelings, in zijn schoot. Toen de Britten ontdekkingsreiziger Henry Morton Stanley wandelen stuurden, huurde hij hem in om handelsposten naast de huidige Congostroom in te palmen. Op zijn kenmerkend sluwe manier – zijn vader vergeleek hem als kind al met een vos die eerst alle opties onderzoekt voor hij de rivier oversteekt – bleef hij er de koloniale grootmachten een stapje voor.”
― Johan Op de Beeck, Leopold II. Het hele verhaal

“Ik heb het geschreven contract tussen de van Leopold II en Tippo Tip opgenomen in mijn boek. Het is een uniek document. Het zegt alles over de toenmalige krachtsverhoudingen in Afrika. De slavenlegers waren sterker op dat moment. Omwille van realpolitik sloot hij daarom een verbond met de duivel. Hij benoemde Tippo Tip zelfs tot gouverneur van Stanley Falls. Hypocriet was dat. Op hetzelfde moment ijverde hij hier arm in arm met de Franse kardinaal Lavigerie tégen de slavernij. Uiteindelijk maakte hij daar ook wel komaf mee, maar de weg ernaartoe liep niet over rozen.”
― Johan Op de Beeck, Leopold II. Het hele verhaal

“Stanley raamde met wat hij zag langs de Congostroom en zijrivieren het bewonersaantal van het bekken op 40 miljoen, een cijfer dat hij in de Franse vertaling halveerde, en die gefantaseerde bevolkingsberg is medio de twintigste eeuw, door ernstig demografisch onderzoek, geslonken tot 10 à 15 miljoen.”
― Marcel Yabili, The Greatest Fake News of All Time: Leopold II, The Genius and Builder King of Lumumba

“It is a well-known fact that Henry Morton Stanley evaluated the population size on the basis of a very limited number of observations along the Congo river, and dubious extrapolation calculation methods containing several errors. As a matter of fact, nobody, even today, can seriously provide any reliable figures in this respect.”
― André de Maere d'Aertrycke

“Papers from Count Jules Greindl, who was the main collaborator of Leopold II in this curious affair, the author has drawn a very precise account, supplemented by documents. To take advantage of the financial ruin of Spain to make the Philippines a kingdom of its own, distinct from Belgium and then to form a company which would exploit the islands in the name of Spain, such were the successive ideas of Leopold. They failed both for lack of capital and for the reaction of Spanish pride. But they show, in Leopold II, the progress of the colonial idea with all the aspects that will then be found in the Congolese affair. When Henry Morton Stanley discovered the Congo, Leopold was ready.”
― Leopold Greindl, A la recherche d'un Etat Independent: Léopold II et les Philippines