David Van Reybrouck · 656 pages
Rating: (3.4K votes)
“The fact that they did not ask for political power, however, did not mean that they were happy as ever. The native’s political apathy was more an indicator of a lack of education than of any surplus of satisfaction. In”
― David Van Reybrouck, quote from Congo: The Epic History of a People
“But it was definitely a hecatomb, a slaughter on a staggering scale that was not intentional, but that could have been recognized much earlier as the collateral damage of a perfidious, rapacious policy of exploitation, a living sacrifice on the altar of the pathological pursuit of profit.”
― David Van Reybrouck, quote from Congo: The Epic History of a People
“Early anthropology was not at all seen as art for art’s sake; it was intended to facilitate the colonizer’s work.”
― David Van Reybrouck, quote from Congo: The Epic History of a People
“Scientists were the embodiment of this new-fangled sobriety—impartial, businesslike, colorless, and reliable. Or so people assumed. For in actual practice, it was their supposed impartiality that allowed them to gain so much influence. One”
― David Van Reybrouck, quote from Congo: The Epic History of a People
“Mission schools were factories for tribal prejudice. Children who were not allowed to leave their villages were suddenly told that the Bakongo lived on the other side of their vast country and what they were to think of them.”
― David Van Reybrouck, quote from Congo: The Epic History of a People
“came from the mines in Kivu.42 The area around the”
― David Van Reybrouck, quote from Congo: The Epic History of a People
“LA PONCIA: Ésta tiene algo. La encuentro sin sosiego, temblona, asustada, como si tuviese una lagartija entre los pechos.”
― Federico García Lorca, quote from La casa de Bernarda Alba
“Idea means execution. Feeling becomes action. I don't know why people find this idea so hard to get. I mean, you can throw any two people together, it doesn't mean they'll fall in love. Everyone knows this. No one quite understands how it works. It's just those people, where they are in their lives, how circumstance throw them together. Sure, it's happened before, but never quite in that way. Maybe they seem to come together all wrong. Maybe they've loved others. Maybe they don't always do right by each other... but it's still there, the love. The event. And no one would dare criticize it just because it's common, it's a little asymmetrical, and anyone can do it. It is unique. It is theirs. It is beautiful. They have made something that had been made a million times before and has also never existed before that moment.”
― Maureen Johnson, quote from The Last Little Blue Envelope
“...Why are corporations so fleeting?...Instead of imitating the freewheeling city, these businesses minimize the very interactions that lead to new ideas. They erect walls and establish hierarchies. They keep people from relaxing and having insights. They stifle conversations, discourage dissent, and suffocate social networks. Rather than maximizing employee creativity they become obsessed with minor efficiencies.”
― Jonah Lehrer, quote from Imagine: How Creativity Works
“Whenever you get something in this world, you lose something too — that's just the way things work.”
― Banana Yoshimoto, quote from Goodbye Tsugumi
“What do you enjoy doing?”
Forgery? “Writing letters. Drawing.” Picking locks? “Puzzles.” Fighting? “Sewing.”
― Jodi Meadows, quote from The Orphan Queen
BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.
We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.
Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.