1. People
    2.  › 
  2. Cecil Rhodes

Cecil Rhodes Quotes

Total quotes: 21
“I’m far too busy to have a wife and children. What would I know about nappies and so forth? No, no – I prefer to build empires rather than families!”
— Cecil Rhodes, The Founder: Cecil Rhodes and the Pursuit of Power
Tagged: Marriage, Family, Nappies, Diapers, Empire, Family And Parenting
“I wanted to conquer Rhodesia because I truly believe that Africa would be happier, richer and safer as part of the British Empire. People say that this empire-building was all about ‘taking’ and ‘stealing’: but life in Rhodesia was very good – even for the people we conquered.”
— Cecil Rhodes, The Founder: Cecil Rhodes and the Pursuit of Power
Tagged: Imperialism, Africa, Colonialism, British Empire, Rhodesia
“For a little while I made myself Prime Minister of South Africa, but I find politics very slow and boring really.”
— Cecil Rhodes, The Founder: Cecil Rhodes and the Pursuit of Power
Tagged: South Africa, Politics, Boring
“Personally, I’ve never killed anyone in my life. I’ve never even shot a lion! But when I hear that people are resisting British rule, what am I supposed to say to my soldiers?”
— Cecil Rhodes, The Founder: Cecil Rhodes and the Pursuit of Power
Tagged: Murder, War, British Rule, British Empire
“People say I ‘stole’ gold and diamonds from Africa – but before I got there no one seemed to show interest in these natural resources. Besides, every single rock and nugget of gold I took out of the ground I had a legal right to: I bought the land from the colonial government – and, remember, I also had that Charter from the Queen! What’s wrong with that?”
— Cecil Rhodes, The Founder: Cecil Rhodes and the Pursuit of Power
Tagged: Imperialism, gold, Diamonds, Queen
“When I left England for the first time in 1871 much of the world had already been colonised by Britain: Australia in 1770; India in 1757, and Canada in 1763. South Africa, however, was only partly controlled by Britain, and I saw this as a place where I might become as famous as Captain Cook, Robert Clive or James Wolfe!”
— Cecil Rhodes, The Founder: Cecil Rhodes and the Pursuit of Power
Tagged: England, Colonialism, Imperialism, Canada, Britain, Australia, Captain Cook, Robert Clive, James Wolfe, Fame
“I wish these history teachers would be more accurate! I did not ‘conquer South Africa’ – I conquered the land to the north of the present country of South Africa: a place that was named, in my honour, Rhodesia.”
— Cecil Rhodes, The Founder: Cecil Rhodes and the Pursuit of Power
Tagged: South Africa, Rhodesia, Imperialism, Colonialism
“The marvelous thing about England is her luck.”
— Cecil Rhodes
Tagged: England, Luck, Marvelous
“Why did I come to Africa? Well, they will tell you that I came on account of my health, or from a love of adventure—and to some extent that may be true; but the real fact is that I could no longer stand their eternal cold mutton.”
— Cecil Rhodes, The Last Will and Testament of Cecil John Rhodes: With Elucidatory Notes to Which Are Added Some Chapters Describing the Political and Religious Ideas of the Testator
Tagged: Africa, Adventure, Health, Mutton, Cold Mutton
“Wherever you turn your eye—except in science—an Oxford man is at the top of the tree.”
— Cecil Rhodes
Tagged: Oxford University, Chauvinism
“Having read the histories of other countries, I saw that expansion was everything, and that the world’s surface being limited, the great object of present humanity should be to take as much of the world as it possibly could.

I contend that we are the finest race in the world and that the more of the world we inhabit, the better it is for the human race.”
— Cecil Rhodes
Tagged: History, Reading, humanity, Colonialism, Imperialism, racism
“So little done, so much to do.”
— Cecil Rhodes
Tagged: Planning, Futility
“Ask any man what nationality he would prefer to be, and ninety nine out of a hundred will tell you that they would prefer to be Englishmen.”
— Cecil Rhodes
Tagged: British Supremacy, Englishmen, nationality
“Why should we not form a secret society with but one object the furtherance of the British Empire and the bringing of the whole uncivilised world under British rule for the recovery of the United States for the making the Anglo-Saxon race but one Empire. What a dream, but yet it is probable, it is possible.”
— Cecil Rhodes, Cecil Rhodes, "Confession of Faith"
Tagged: British Empire, Uncivilized, Secret Society, Anglo-Saxon, Dream
“I contend that we are the finest race in the world and that the more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race. Just fancy those parts that are at present inhabited by the most despicable specimens of human beings what an alteration there would be if they were brought under Anglo-Saxon influence, look again at the extra employment a new country added to our dominions gives.”
— Cecil Rhodes, Cecil Rhodes, "Confession of Faith"
Tagged: Anglo-Saxon, White Supremacy, British Empire, Colonialism, Imperialism
“Africa is still lying ready for us, it is our duty to take it. It is our duty to seize every opportunity of acquiring more territory and we should keep this one idea steadily before our eyes.”
— Cecil Rhodes, Cecil Rhodes, "Confession of Faith"
Tagged: Africa, Colonialism, British Empire, British Imperialism
“...you are an Englishman, and have subsequently drawn the greatest prize in the lottery of life.”
— Cecil Rhodes
Tagged: racism, British Chauvinism, Englishman
“I contend that we are the first race in the world, and that the more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race...If there be a God, I think that what he would like me to do is paint as much of the map of Africa British Red as possible...”
— Cecil Rhodes
Tagged: racism, Chauvinism, British Empire, Colonialism, Imperialism, Africa
“In order to save the forty million inhabitants of the United Kingdom from a bloody civil war, our colonial statesmen must acquire new lands for settling the surplus population of this country, to provide new markets... The Empire, as I have always said, is a bread and butter question.”
— Cecil Rhodes
Tagged: British Empire, Imperialism, Colonialism, United Kingdom, Bread and Butter
“To and for the establishment, promotion and development of a Secret Society, the true aim and object whereof shall be for the extension of British rule throughout the world, the perfecting of a system of emigration from the United Kingdom, and of colonisation by British subjects of all lands where the means of livelihood are attainable by energy, labour and enterprise, and especially the occupation by British settlers of the entire Continent of Africa, the Holy Land, the Valley of the Euphrates, the Islands of Cyprus and Candia, the whole of South America, the Islands of the Pacific not heretofore possessed by Great Britain, the whole of the Malay Archipelago, the seaboard of China and Japan, the ultimate recovery of the United States of America as an integral part of the British Empire, the inauguration of a system of Colonial representation in the Imperial Parliament which may tend to weld together the disjointed members of the Empire and, finally, the foundation of so great a Power as to render wars impossible, and promote the best interests of humanity.”
— Cecil Rhodes
Tagged: Holy Land, Africa, United Kingdom, British Empire, Colonialism, south america, Imperialism
“The world is nearly all parcelled out, and what there is left of it is being divided up, conquered and colonised. To think of these stars that you see overhead at night, these vast worlds which we can never reach. I would annex the planets if I could; I often think of that. It makes me sad to see them so clear and yet so far.”
— Cecil Rhodes
Tagged: Colonialism, British Empire, planets
loading next page...