Kwame Nkrumah

We, in Africa, will evolve forms of government, rather different from the traditional Western pattern, but no less democratic in their protection of the individual and his inalienable rights.

A people's parliamentary democracy, with a one-party system, is better able to express and satisfy the common aspirations of a nation as a whole, than a multi-party parliamentary system, which is in fact only a ruse for perpetuating and covering up the inherent struggle between the 'haves' and the 'have-nots'.

A one-party system of government is an effective and safe instrument only when it operates in a socialist society.

I repeat that a one-party state can only function for the good of the people within the framework of a socialist state or in a developing state with a socialist programme. The government governs through the people, and not through the class cleavages and interests. In other words, the basis of government is the will of the people.

The multi-party system is divisive and a newly independent state needs the energy and enthusiasm of all the people to move forward.

If the will of the people is democratically expressed in an overwhelming majority for the governing party, and thereby creates a weakening of the accepted two party system, the government is obliged to respect the will of the people so expressed.

Every form of political power, whether parliamentary, multi-party, one-party, or an open military dictatorship, reflects the interest of a certain class or classes in society. In a socialist state, the government represents the workers and peasants. In a capitalist state, the government represents the exploitative class.

It is clear that we must find an African solution to our problems, and that this can only be found in African unity. Divided we are weak; united, Africa could become one of the greatest forces for good in the world.

Revolutions are not made with rosewater.

I am not a spiritual head, I am a political head.

Without the Party, there is no Government. Without the Government, there is no State.

The greatest danger to Africa today is neo-colonialism.

All peoples of Africa, black or white, must be free now.

The African personality is a concept which can be defined as the sum total of the cultural, spiritual and moral values which characterize the African peoples.

The essence of neo-colonialism is that the State which is subject to it is, in theory, independent and has all the outward trappings of international sovereignty. In reality its economic system and thus its political policy is directed from outside.

I am not a communist, but a Marxist socialist.

The only way to achieve true independence is through economic liberation.

The strength of the nation depends on the strength of its weakest link.

African unity is, above all, a political kingdom which can only be gained by political means.

There is a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries.