Patrice Lumumba Quotes

“When I look at Africa many questions come to mind, many times I have asked myself what would happen if Dr Kwame Nkrumah and Patrice Lumumba were to rise up and see what is happening, many times I have asked myself what would happen if Nelson Madiba Mandela were to rise up and see what is happening, because what they will be confronted with is an Africa where the Democratic Republic of Congo is unsettled, there is a war going on there, but it's not on the front pages of our newspapers because we don't even control our newspapers and the media.”
― PLO Lumumba

“Neither cruelty, nor violence, nor torture will make me beg for mercy, because I prefer to die with my head raised high, with unshakeable faith... In my country’s predestination rather than live in submission forsaking my sacred principles.”
― Patrice Lumumba, Lumumba Speaks: The Speeches and Writings of Patrice Lumumba, 1958-1961

“All together, dear brothers and sisters, workers and government employees, workers by brain and by hand, rich and poor, Africans and Europeans, Catholics and Protestants, Kimbanguists and Kitawalists, let us unite and create a great nation.”
― Patrice Lumumba, Lumumba Speaks: The Speeches and Writings of Patrice Lumumba, 1958-1961

“We are the children of Nelson Mandela; we are the children of Kwame Nkrumah; we are the children of Haile Selassie; we are the children of Samora Machel; we are the children of Robert Mugabe; we are the children of Patrice Lumumba; we are the children of Julius Kambarage Nyerere. We know who we are.”
― Enock Maregesi

“My dear countrymen! In joy and in sorrow I will always be with you. It is together with you that I fought to free my country from foreign rule. Together with you I am fighting to strengthen our national independence. Together with you, I will fight to preserve the integrity and national unity of the Republic of the Congo.”
― Patrice Lumumba, Lumumba Speaks: The Speeches and Writings of Patrice Lumumba, 1958-1961

“Your secret behavior will be inherited by your children! If Nelson Mandela was a symbol of reconciliation; then reconciliation is our character. If Kwame Nkrumah was a symbol of unity; then unity is our character. If Patrice Lumumba was a symbol of patriotism; then patriotism is our character. If Robert Mugabe is a symbol of dictatorship; then dictatorship is our character. If Haile Selassie was a symbol of heroism; then heroism is our character. If Samora Machel was a symbol of socialism; then socialism is our character. If Julius Kambarage Nyerere was a symbol of justice; then justice is our character. We are the children of the African patriarchs! They are the fathers of the African nations! We have inherited their secret behaviors.”
― Enock Maregesi

“I know that an overwhelming majority of the Belgian people are against the oppression of Africans. They disapprove of a colonial status for the Congo under which 14 million Congolese are exposed to the diktat of a tiny economic oligarchy. If the Belgian people were to have their say, the Congo would never have experienced the misfortunes which are affecting it now.”
― Patrice Lumumba, Lumumba Speaks: The Speeches and Writings of Patrice Lumumba, 1958-1961

“Our dearest wish perhaps, some may find it utopian is to found in the Congo a Nation in which differences of race and religion will melt away, a homogeneous society composed of Belgians and Congolese who with a single impulse will link their hearts to the destinies of the country.”
― Patrice Lumumba, Lumumba Speaks: The Speeches and Writings of Patrice Lumumba, 1958-1961

“As someone celebrated as an anti-colonial hero in the contemporary academy, it is often forgotten that Patrice Lumumba was an active “collaborator” in Belgian colonial rule by any measure: a postal clerk, the head of a local trade federation, and an insider in colonial society as head of Stanleyville’s Association des Évolués.”
― Bruce Gilley, The Case for Colonialism: A Response to My Critics

“Moest Lumumba destijds niet geweigerd hebben om de Congolese nationaliteit toe te kennen aan de kolonialen die dat wensten. Dan zou het economisch debacle van de zaïrisering vermeden zijn.”
― Amandine Lauro, Koloniaal Congo - Een geschiedenis in vragen

“Lumumba praised Leopold as a genius and builder of the Congo; in his fierce speech of June 30, 1960, he denounced 9 forms of violence, but the "severed hands" and the "chicotte" (whip) were not among them. The chicotte was part of the sharia and the Arab slave traders, but it was banned in the law that was introduced by Leopold after 1885 for Congolese citizens.”
― Marcel Yabili, The Greatest Fake News of All Time: Leopold II, The Genius and Builder King of Lumumba

“Ik stelde voor dat ik met de koning op staande voet Leopoldstad zou verlaten en dat de regering het daags voordien gesloten vriendschapsverdrag met Kongo opnieuw zou onderzoeken. Buitenstaanders hadden blijkbaar mijn woorden opgevangen, want niet lang daarna deed de ambassadeur van Ghana een demarche bij mij met de vraag of de zaak niet min of meer kon worden bijgelegd. Ik ging daarmee akkoord. Er volgde een bijeenkomst van enkele ministers. Het voorstel was dat Lumumba tijdens de lunch die na de middag was gepland een tafelrede zou houden waarin hij hulde zou brengen aan de koning en het Belgische koloniale werk. Minister van Buitenlandse Zaken Pierre Wigny en de diplomatieke adviseur van gouverneur-generaal Cornelis Fredericq De Ridder schreven in mijn bijzijn de redevoering. Ik liet vervolgens de tekst aan Lumumba bezorgen met de vraag of hij die al dan niet aannam. Het antwoord was positief. De ambassadeur van Ghana trad hierbij als tussenpersoon op.”
― Gaston Eyskens, Gaston Eyskens de Memoires

“Sisi ni watoto wa Nelson Mandela; sisi ni watoto wa Kwame Nkrumah; sisi ni watoto wa Haile Selassie; sisi ni watoto wa Samora Machel; sisi ni watoto wa Robert Mugabe; sisi ni watoto wa Patrice Lumumba; sisi ni watoto wa Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere. Tunajua sisi ni nani.”
― Enock Maregesi

“Tabia yako ya siri mwanao atakuwa nayo! Kama Nelson Mandela alikuwa alama ya msamaha, msamaha ni tabia yetu. Kama Kwame Nkrumah alikuwa alama ya umoja, umoja ni tabia yetu. Kama Patrice Lumumba alikuwa alama ya uzalendo, uzalendo ni tabia yetu. Kama Robert Mugabe ni alama ya udikteta, udikteta ni tabia yetu. Kama Haile Selassie alikuwa alama ya ushujaa, ushujaa ni tabia yetu. Kama Samora Machel alikuwa alama ya ujamaa, ujamaa ni tabia yetu. Kama Julius Kambarage Nyerere alikuwa alama ya haki, haki ni tabia yetu. Sisi ni watoto wa wazalendo wa Afrika! Wao ni baba wa mataifa ya Afrika! Tumerithi tabia zao za siri.”
― Enock Maregesi

“Since we have no confidence in the government that has just been formed in Leopoldville and is led by Mister Lumumba, we have decided to declare Katanga Independent.”
― Moïse Tshombe

“Belgium's returning of Patrice Lumumba's 'trophy tooth' to the family in the Democratic Republic of the Congo shouldn't excite one. Patrice was just a thorn to their interests which have not changed.”
― DON SANTO

“We must remain completely loyal to all government representatives to build a truly overseas Belgium in a spirit of perfect loyalty. We have no right, for any motive or in the hope of obtaining some small favours, to detract from the brilliant work of Leopold II, which was a work of resurrection, liberation and emancipation of the native population.”
― Patrice Lumumba