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Robert Mugabe
30 quotes
“Africa must revert to what it was before the imperialists divided it. These are artificial divisions which we, in our pan-African concept will seek to remove.”
Robert Mugabe (1924–2019) first seen 1962 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: African threat to ban Sir Roy Welensky", The Times, 10 April 1962, p. 10
“It may be necessary to use methods other than constitutional ones.”
Robert Mugabe (1924–2019) first seen 1962 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: ZAPU deposes Mr. Nkomo as Leader", The Times, 9 July 1962, p. 9
“Our votes must go together with our guns. After all, any vote we shall have, shall have been the product of the gun. The gun which produces the vote should remain its security officer – its guarantor. The people's votes and the people's guns are always inseparable twins.”
Robert Mugabe (1924–2019) first seen 1976 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Said in 1976 while a leading commander of the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army
“Stay with us, please remain in this country and constitute a nation based on national unity.”
Robert Mugabe (1924–2019) first seen 1980 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A plea to the white population of Zimbabwe in a speech at a ZANU-PF rally, 27 January 1980.
“I wish to assure you that there can never be any return to the state of armed conflict which existed before our commitment to peace and the democratic process of election under the Lancaster House agreement.”
Robert Mugabe (1924–2019) first seen 1980 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Broadcast speech on Zimbabwe-Rhodesia Television, 4 March 1980, on winning the election.
“It was from Tito that I drew inspiration while searching for the best road to take and when making crucial decisions during our liberation struggle. I often thought, what would Tito do at that moment?”
Robert Mugabe (1924–2019) first seen 1994 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Mugabe cited in: Jasper Ridley, Tito: A Biography (Constable and Company Ltd., 1994), p. 400.
“We are still exchanging blows with the British government. They are using gay gangsters. Each time I pass through London, the gangster regime of Blair 'expresses its dismay'.”
Robert Mugabe (1924–2019) first seen 1999 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Chimaima Banda, "Gays seeking sexual asylum in South Africa", The Independent, 6 November 1999, p. 18.
“It was an act of madness. We killed each other and destroyed each other's property. It was wrong and both sides were to blame. We have had a difference, a quarrel. We engaged ourselves in a reckless and unprincipled fight.”
Robert Mugabe (1924–2019) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks at a memorial for Joshua Nkomo (2 July 2000), referring to the Gukurahundi massacres. Quoted in Mugabe: Power, Plunder, and the Struggle for Zimbabwe's Future (2009) by Martin Meredith
“What we hate is not the colour of their skins but the evil that emanates from them.”
Robert Mugabe (1924–2019) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech at the Mount Olivet Baptist Church in Harlem, New York (8 September 2000), quoted in Michael Radu, "State of Disaster", National Review, 27 May 2002
“Of the twelve million hectares that the farmers have, we said we needed about half of that for a start. Even then you will say, of course, "Take all of it!" (laughs) Even deep down as we stand by our revolutionary principles, we still recognize that there should be some little measure of charity. No? Well, I will take your message back home.”
Robert Mugabe (1924–2019) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech at the Mount Olivet Baptist Church in Harlem, New York (8 September 2000)
“Our party must continue to strike fear in the heart of the white man, our real enemy!”
Robert Mugabe (1924–2019) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Whites are real enemy, warns Mugabe", Irish Times, 15 December 2000, p. 11.
“The white man is not indigenous to Africa. Africa is for Africans. Zimbabwe is for Zimbabweans.”
Robert Mugabe (1924–2019) said by 2019 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We have fought for our land, we have fought for our sovereignty, small as we are we have won our independence and we are prepared to shed our blood…. So, Blair keep your England, and let me keep my Zimbabwe.”
Robert Mugabe (1924–2019) first seen 2002 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech at the Earth Summit in Johannesburg (2 September 2002), quoted in John Battersby and Andrew Grice, "Anti-West anger at summit as Mugabe rounds on Blair", The Independent, 3 September 2002, p. 1.
“I am still the Hitler of the time. This Hitler has only one objective, justice for his own people, sovereignty for his people, recognition of the independence of his people, and their right to their resources. If that is Hitler, then let me be a Hitler tenfold. Ten times, that is what we stand for.”
Robert Mugabe (1924–2019) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech at the state funeral of a Cabinet minister, March 2003. Quoted in {{cite news
“Let Blair and the British government take note and listen. Zimbabwe is for Zimbabweans. Our people are overjoyed. The land is ours. We are now the rulers and owners of Zimbabwe.”
Robert Mugabe (1924–2019) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Michael White, Andrew Meldrum, "Commonwealth leaders delay decision on defiant Mugabe", The Guardian, 6 December 2003, p. 2.
“If the choice was made for us, one for us to lose our sovereignty and become a member of the Commonwealth or to remain with our sovereignty and lose membership of the Commonwealth, then I would say, then let the Commonwealth go. What is it to us? Our people are overjoyed, the land is ours. We are now the rulers and owners of Zimbabwe.”
Robert Mugabe (1924–2019) said by 2019 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Commonwealth is a mere club, but it has become like an 'Animal Farm' where some members are more equal than others. How can Blair claim to regulate and direct events and still say all of us are equals?”
Robert Mugabe (1924–2019) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Richard Dowden, "Mugabe: Commonwealth is 'Animal Farm'", Independent on Sunday, 7 December 2003.
“We are now being coerced to accept and believe that a new political-cum-religious doctrine has arisen, namely that there is but one political God, George W Bush, and Tony Blair is his prophet.”
Robert Mugabe (1924–2019) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Accusing President Bush and Tony Blair at the UN General Assembly in New York on the US-led Invasion of Iraq. 2004-09-23
“We cannot have a situation where people decide to sit in places not allowed and when police remove them they say no. We can’t have that. That is a revolt to the system. Some are crying that they were beaten. Yes you will be thoroughly beaten. When the police say move you move. If you don’t move, you invite the police to use force.”
Robert Mugabe (1924–2019) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Addressing delegates at the Zimbabwe embassy in Cairo, Egypt, on the arrest, torture and mistreatment of 15 trade union activists in Zimbabwe, 23 September 2006.
“When they criticise the government when it tries to prevent violence and punish perpetrators of that violence we take the position that they can go hang.”
Robert Mugabe (1924–2019) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks following a meeting with Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete (15 March 2007), commenting on a violent clash between members of his party and the opposition MDC
“Mr Bush, Mr. Blair and now Mr Brown's sense of human rights precludes our people's right to their God-given resources, which in their view must be controlled by their kith and kin. I am termed dictator because I have rejected this supremacist view and frustrated the neo-colonialists.”
Robert Mugabe (1924–2019) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech to the United Nations General Assembly (26 September 2007)
“Let Mr. Bush read history correctly. Let him realise that both personally and in his representative capacity as the current President of the United States, he stands for this "civilisation" which occupied, which colonised, which incarcerated, which killed. He has much to atone for and very little to lecture us on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. His hands drip with innocent blood of many nationalities.”
Robert Mugabe (1924–2019) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech to the United Nations General Assembly (26 September 2007)
“Our economy is a hundred times better, than the average African economy. Outside South Africa, what country is [as good as] Zimbabwe? … What is lacking now are goods on the shelves—that is all.”
Robert Mugabe (1924–2019) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview with Heidi Holland (December 2007)
“I will never, never, never, never surrender. Zimbabwe is mine. I am a Zimbabwean. Zimbabwe for Zimbabweans. Zimbabwe never for the British. Britain for the British.”
Robert Mugabe (1924–2019) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in Bindura (20 December 2008)
“[Referring to Zimbabweans] Your leadership in the inclusive government urges you to desist from any acts of violence that will cause harm to others and become a blight on our society [...] Don't fight even over girlfriends. The country is full of beautiful women. If you can't get one, come to Mugabe for assistance.”
Robert Mugabe (1924–2019) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From a speech at a rally commemorating Zimbabwe's 0th anniversary, as quoted in "", CNN (19 April 2010)
“That isn't true. Zimbabwe is the most highly developed country in Africa. After South Africa, I want to see another country as highly developed. [We have 14 universities and a literacy rate of over 90%, the highest in Africa.] And yet they talk about us as a fragile state. We have a bumper harvest, not only maize, but also tobacco and many other crops. We are not a poor country. If anyone wants to call us fragile, they can. You can also call America fragile.”
Robert Mugabe (1924–2019) first seen 2017 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: When asked by Anton du Plessis of the Institute for Security Studies if he agreed that Zimbabwe was a failed state, as quoted by Carien du Plessis in Mugabe: Zim 'is the most highly developed country in Africa after SA'…
“What was the most important thing for (Mandela) was his release from prison and nothing else. He cherished that freedom more than anything else and forgot why he was put in jail.”
Robert Mugabe (1924–2019) first seen 2017 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "WATCH: 'Fascinating' video of Mugabe talking 'non-racialism' like Mandela goes viral on social media" (16 September 2017), News24, South Africa
“The congress is due in a few weeks from now and I will preside over its processes, which must not be prepossessed by any acts calculated to undermine or to compromise the outcomes in the eyes of the public.”
Robert Mugabe (1924–2019) first seen 2017 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: During 2017 coup d'etat, as quoted in Xinhua
“We are totally opposed to the concept of multi-racialism because it assumes in the first instance that people have got to be arranged in compartments based on colour... you have Europeans in one compartment, Asians and coloureds in two other compartments and Africans in another compartment... And immediately you talk of multi-racialism, you are accepting as a starting point that the races are different and this difference must be recognised. We are non-racialist in our approach and that everybody must be accorded his full political rights – whether he white or black, educated or uneducated, rich or poor. And this is why we are at the moment struggling to earn for our people one-man-one-vote.”
Robert Mugabe (1924–2019) first seen 1961 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In 1961, as quoted in "WATCH: 'Fascinating' video of Mugabe talking 'non-racialism' like Mandela goes viral on social media" (16 September 2017), News24, South Africa
“He imprisons and tortures at Guantanamo. He imprisoned and tortured at Abu Ghraib. He has secret torture chambers in Europe. Yes, he imprisons even here in the United States, with his jails carrying more blacks than his universities can ever enroll. He even suspends the provisions of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. Take Guantanamo for example; at that concentration camp international law does not apply. The national laws of the people there do not apply. Laws of the United States of America do not apply. Only Bush's law applies. Can the international community accept being lectured by this man on the provisions of the universal declaration of human rights? Definitely not!”
Robert Mugabe (1924–2019) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech to the United Nations General Assembly (26 September 2007)