Quotes Za Mwalimu

"In Tanganyika we believe that only evil, Godless men would make the color of a man's skin the criteria for granting him civil rights."
Julius Kambarage Nyerere addressing British Governor-General Richard Gordon Turnbull, at a meeting of the Legco, prior to taking up the premiership in 1960.

"The African is not 'Communistic' in his thinking; he is -- if I may coin an expression -- 'communitary'."
Julius Kambarage Nyerere as quoted in the New York Times Magazine on 27 March 1960.

"Having come into contact with a civilization which has over-emphasized the freedom of the individual, we are in fact faced with one of the big problems of Africa in the modern world. Our problem is just this: how to get the benefits of European society -- benefits that have been brought about by an organization based upon the individual -- and yet retain African's own structure of society in which the individual is a member of a kind of fellowship."
Julius Kambarage Nyerere as quoted in the New York Times Magazine on 27 March 1960.

"We, in Africa, have no more need of being 'converted' to socialism than we have of being 'taught' democracy. Both are rooted in our past -- in the traditional society which produced us."
Julius Kambarage Nyerere, from his book Uhuru na Umoja (Freedom and Unity): Essays on Socialism, 1967.

"No nation has the right to make decisions for another nation; no people for another people."
Julius Kambarage Nyerere, from his A Peaceful New Year speech given in Tanzania on 1 January 1968.

"In Tanzania, it was more than one hundred tribal units which lost their freedom; it was one nation that regained it."
Julius Kambarage Nyerere, from his Stability and Change in Africa speech given to the University of Toronto, Canada, 2 October 1969.

"If a door is shut, attempts should be made to open it; if it is ajar, it should be pushed until it is wide open. In neither case should the door be blown up at the expense of those inside."
Julius Kambarage Nyerere, from his Stability and Change in Africa speech given to the University of Toronto, Canada, 2 October 1969.

"You don't have to be a Communist to see that China has a lot to teach us in development. The fact that they have a different political system than ours has nothing to do with it."
Julius Kambarage Nyerere, as quoted in Donald Robinson's The 100Most Important People in the World Today, New York 1970.

"[A] man is developing himself when he grows, or earns, enough to provide decent conditions for himself and his family; he is not being developed if someone gives him these things."
Julius Kambarage Nyerere, from his book Uhuru na Maendeleo (Freedom and Development), 1973.

"...intellectuals have a special contribution to make to the development of our nation, and to Africa. And I am asking that their knowledge, and the greater understanding that they should possess, should be used for the benefit of the society of which we are all members."
Julius Kambarage Nyerere, from his book Uhuru na Maendeleo (Freedom and Development), 1973.

"If real development is to take place, the people have to be involved."
Julius Kambarage Nyerere, from his book Uhuru na Maendeleo (Freedom and Development), 1973.

"We can try to cut ourselves from our fellows on the basis of the education we have had; we can try to carve our for ourselves an unfair share of the wealth of the society. But the cost to us, as well as to our fellow citizens, will be very high. It will be high not only in terms of satisfactions forgone, but also in terms of our own security and well-being."
Julius Kambarage Nyerere, from his book Uhuru na Maendeleo (Freedom and Development), 1973.

"To measure a country's wealth by its gross national product is to measure things, not satisfactions."
From a speech written by Julius Kambarage Nyerere, The Rational Choice given on 2 January 1973 in Khartoum.

"Capitalism is very dynamic. It is a fighting system. Each capitalist enterprise survives by successfully fighting other capitalist enterprises."
From a speech written by Julius Kambarage Nyerere, The Rational Choice given on 2 January 1973 in Khartoum.

"Capitalism means that the masses will work, and a few people -- who may not labor at all -- will benefit from that work. The few will sit down to a banquet, and the masses will eat whatever is left over."
From a speech written by Julius Kambarage Nyerere, The Rational Choice given on 2 January 1973 in Khartoum.

"We spoke and acted as if, given the opportunity for self-government, we would quickly create utopias. Instead injustice, even tyranny, is rampant."
Julius Kambarage Nyerere, as quoted in David Lamb's The Africans, New York 1985