1. "War is a product of the cruelty and selfishness of man. If all of us used the goodwill endowed in us by JAH for the benefit of our fellowmen, the effort and wealth expended on military training and armament would have been unnecessary. There is no doubt that the wealth wasted in the destruction of humans could have contributed enormously towards the welfare of man and the world-wide advancement of civilization." - 7/2/1963
2. "Contrary to certain notions that the preservation of world peace is the exclusive preserve of the great powers, the question of peace or war, because it involves the survival of humanity, is one that is intimately and vitally connected with all the peoples of the world. All the peoples of the world therefore, should make greater efforts to enable those powers that are more immediately concerned with the maintenance of peace to arrive at some plan that will gaurantee harmony as the basis for preserving world peace." - 5/7/1965
3. "Ethiopia is, by her own choice, a non-aligned state. Our politics on the vexatious international issues have been declared to all, and our adherence to them is steadfast: the urgent imperative of universal disarmament, the settlement of disputes by peaceful negotiation; the supremecy of reason and logic over force and irrationality." - 11/22/1966
4. "Unity is strength. No nation can divide within itself and remain powerful." - 7/1/1967
5. "Through the cooperation of nations, during our present day and age, a lot of advantage can be drawn by the citizens of all respective countries. This cooperation can be a vivid illustration of men, as children of JAH, striving toward understanding and living together in peace and harmony." - 7/20/1969
6. "We do not believe that world peace can be maintained by force. The unnecessary daily loss of human lives, particularly those of civilians, which is caused by fighting and starvation in these regions is a sad chapter in the history of the 20th century." - 1/6/1970
7. "The various attitudes to modern life and ideologies have not insured lasting peace in the world; on the contrary, they have become sources of friction and causes of conflict." - 1/6/1970
8. "Whatever authority I may have rests solely on knowing how little I know." - 7/6/1970
9. "When I&I view the general international situation, I&I realize that the number of innocent lives lost as a result of political conflicts prevailing in the world as well as hunger and disease have not decreased. If men were working sincerely and in concert for the promotion of world peace and progress, this problem would have been solved. I&I had often expressed the belief that since the great powers possess the wealth and the might, they have a special responsibility to eliminate the political ills affecting mankind. Have the great powers exerted enough efforts to assume this heavy responsibility? Have they done enough in pooling their resources for the benefit of the whole of mankind? What has been done for those who have been shorn of their fundamental human rights and are being subjected to inhumane and oppressive laws? History is waiting for answers to these questions." - 11/2/70
10. "The materialism of today is over-riding the spiritual values to the extent that today we observe alot of unrest and social upheavals which have become common phenomena the world over." - 8/1/71
11. "Ethiopia is a peace-loving nation. Except for those times when it had to rise up in arms to fight off aggression, or to advance the cause of collective security, there is not one instance in history of Ethiopia provoking a conflict by violating the territorial integrity or by interfering in the affairs of others. And there will never be any such instance." - 11/3/1971
12. "This world was not created piecemeal. Africa was born no later and no earlier than any other geographical area on this globe. Africans, no more and no less than other men, possess all human attributes, talents and deficiencies, virtues and faults. Thousands of years ago civilisations flourished in Africa which suffer not at all by comparison with those of other continents. In those centuries, Africans were politically free and economically independent. Their social patterns were their own and their cultures truly indigenous.
The obscurity which enshrouds the centuries which elapsed between those earliest days and the rediscovery of Africa are being gradually dispersed. What is certain is that during those long years Africans were born, lived and died. Men on other parts of this earth occupied themselves with their own concerns and, in their conceit, proclaimed that the world began and ended at their horizons. All unknown to them, Africa developed in its own pattern, growing in its own life and finally re-emerged into the world's consciousness." - 5/23/1963
13. "Education is the gateway to everlasting enlightenment." - 7/3/1970
14. "There is nothing more worthwhile and rewarding in life than to work for the benefit of others. One can derive more pleasure from giving than from receiving." - 8/1/1971
15. "The harvest of life is character which grows with time and it is this very factor that determines ones destiny and future." - 8/1/1971
16."Life without learning is barren and meaningless." - 11/3/1971
17."Aspirations bear fruit when followed up with deeds." - 2/1/1972
18."Our liberty is meaningless unless all Africans are free...Be of good cheer for your deliverance is at hand...We must live in peace with our former colonisers, shunning recrimination and bitterness and forswearing the luxury of vengeance and retaliation, lest the acid of hatred erode our souls and poison our hearts...Unity can be and has been attained among men of the most disparate origins that differences of race, of religion, of culture, of tradition, are no insuperable obstacles to the coming together of peoples...We Africans occupy a different - indeed a unique - position among the nations of this century. Having for so long known oppression, tyranny and subjugation; who- with better right can claim for all- the opportunity and the right to live and grow as free men? Ourselves, for long decades the victims of injustice; whose voices can be better raised in the demand for justice and right for all?" - 5/23/1963
19."Science has made possible complex inventions which are put at the service of man. Yet, however precise these instruments- including computers- may be in their service, they obviously lack the perfecting human characteristic of sympathy, goodness, generosity and selflessness- all of which JAH in His ultimate wisdom granted only to human beings. Although man has found assistance for himself in these machines, his superiority lies in the fact that he is their inventor and he himself is the instrument of JAH." - 9/3/1965
20."Let us, from the greatest to the least, take pride in the performance of the tasks and duties assigned to us, whether or not we believe them worthy of our talents, whether we labor silently and alone or in the crowd and illuminated by the glaring light of public opinion. The reward for the job well done is not in the recognition of others nor in public praise. Neither is it measured solely by the monetary return....It comes in the inner satisfaction that accompanies the knowledge that the work accomplished represents the best of which we are capable....Let there be no mistake; each man must contribute. There is no protection from the demand that a man's worth be assessed by his achievements. Education and learning offer no escape from the obligation of toil. Social position and high birth provide no gaurantee of soft hands and a life of ease and comfort. High origins are no passport to high position. To those who contribute willingly to the best of their abilities- who, in sweat and toil work for the good of the nation with little thought of self- to them will much be given...The problem of the many must become the problem of the few." - 11/26/1965
21."The greatest privilege and satisfaction which a fond parent may experience is to witness his child, born in travail- buffeted by the illnesses and hazards of infancy, childhood and adolescence- at last come to young manhood and take his place, strong and vigorous, in the society in which he grew and developed. This is indeed the greatest source of gratification and pride for the parent who nurtured and sacrificed so much for his offspring." - 3/1/1968
22."We must become bigger than we have been: more couragious, greater in spirit, larger in outlook. We must become members of a new race, overcoming petty prejudice, owing our ultimate allegiance not to nations but to our fellow men within the human community." - 10/6/1963
23."Every nation has a particular contribution to make to the well-being and welfare of the world community." - 3/5/1971
24."We must ride in supreme serenity...and never despair that our future lies in standing together." - 9/10/1968
25."It is not the strength or the power or the determination of those who oppose us that will delay success, but only the weakness of our unity....What we seek to create is flexible; a moral force to be used for world peace, for economic development, for the benefit of humanity. We can not impose our views by force. We have only the power of moral persuasion. This is our strength- and a great strength- if we will but use it." - 7/21/1964
26."Africa must speak with one voice ringing out in powerful, harmonious tones." - 11/6/1966
27."Peace is not an 'is'. It is a 'becoming'." - 10/6/1963
28."Racial discrimination, by the nature of its aftermath, like a sleeping volcano, is capable of erupting any time." - 11/3/1968
29."A noble failure may be of more value than a petty success. The man who sets his goals too low and who accepts too little as enough, squanders the talents and abilities with which Almighty JAH and nature have endowed him. Let us set our goals too high; let us demand more of ourselves than we believe we possess." - 11/22/1963
30."Until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned; that until there are no longer first class and second class citizens of any nation; that until the color of a man's skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes; that until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all, without regard to race; that until that day, the dream of lasting peace and world citizenship and the rule of international morality will remain but fleeting illusions, to be persued but never attained.
And until the ignoble and unhappy regimes that hold our brothers in Angola, in Mozambique, and in South Africa in sub-human bondage have been toppled and destroyed; until bigotry and prejudice and malicious and inhuman self-interest have been replaced by understanding, and tolerance, and good will; until all Africans stand and speak as free beings, equal in the eyes of all men as they are in the eyes of Heaven;
Until that day, the African continent will not know peace. We Africans will fight if necessary, and we know that we will win, as we are confident in the victory of good over evil." - 10/6/1963
