"To speak means to be in a position to use a certain syntax, to grasp the morphology of this or that language, but it means above all to assume a culture, to support the weight of a civilization."

"The great danger that threatens the young nation is the intellectual laziness of its ruling class."

"For a colonized people, the most essential value, because the most concrete, is first and foremost the land: the land which will bring them bread and, above all, dignity."

"The colonist is an exhibitionist."

"The black man is a victim of a system that has been designed to oppress him, to dehumanize him, to exploit him."