Senegal Quotes

“The gracefulness of the slender fishing boats that glided into the harbor in Dakar was equaled only by the elegance of the Senegalese women who sailed through the city in flowing robes and turbaned heads. I wandered through the nearby marketplace, intoxicated by the exotic spices and perfumes. The Senegalese are a handsome people and I enjoyed the brief time that Oliver and I spent in their country. The society showed how disparate elements-- French, Islamic, and African-- can mingle to create a unique and distinctive culture.”
― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom

“The beam of light flashed across her own face and she thought, Yes, me, Khady Demba, still happy to utter her name silently and to sense its apt harmony with the precise, satisfying image she had of her own features and of the Khady heart that dwelled within her to which no one but she had access.”
― Marie NDiaye, Three Strong Women

“People tend to buy more at a lower price and less at a higher price. Also, people who produce goods or supply services tend to produce more at higher prices and less at lower prices. This juxtaposition constitutes equilibrium.”
― Hendrith Vanlon Smith Jr, Principles of a Permaculture Economy

“Little heard of, Dakar with a population of over a million people is the capital and largest city of Senegal. Counting the surrounding area, the population would go well over 2,000,000. This would be our last landing for fuel, before our arrival in Liberia. Our DC-6 took a long turn over the Atlantic and made a slow decent to the runway of the “Aéroport international de Dakar” just north of Dakar. The Portuguese founded Dakar in 1444, as a base for the export of slaves. Dakar came under French rule in 1872 and was the capital of the Mali Federation for a year after 1959. On August 20, 1960, it became the capital of Senegal. It is here that the sand dunes of the North African desert, gives way to the dense tropical rain forests of Equatorial Africa.”
― Captain Hank Bracker, "Salty & Saucy Maine"

“Moving and sad memory
Night of times
How will it be erased from the memory of Men?”
― Ndiaye

“Moving and sad memory
Night of times
How will it be erased from the memory of Men?.”
― Boubacar Joseph Ndiaye

“In May 1903, Bamba’s insistence on God as his sole master prompted the authorities to post the following “urgent” telegram: “Urgent. Marabout Ahmadou Bamba is making it known that he recognizes no other master but God, and refuses to be summoned for an interview … situation particularly serious.”
― Michelle R. Kimball, Shaykh Ahmadou Bamba: A Peacemaker for Our Time

“This obsessing heart which does not correspond
To my language, nor to my customs,
And on which encroach, like a clinging-root,
Borrowed feelings and the customs
Of Europe, feel this suffering
And this despair—equal to no other—
Of ever taming with words from France
This heart which came to me from Sénegal.
- Haitian poet”
― Jean-Paul Sartre, Black Orpheus

“Hoewel het overgrote deel van de Vrije Fransen in werkelijkheid bestond uit de zwarte Senegalese manschappen – in de zomer van 1944 waren daarvan al 17 000 gesneuveld – mochten ze geen deel uitmaken van de heldenontvangst in Parijs. De eerste grote parade op het Europese continent zou anders één grote zwarte show zijn geworden en dat, zo onthulde de BBC meer dan een halve eeuw later, wilden de Amerikanen tot iedere prijs voorkomen.”
― Geert Mak, Wisselwachter