“Beware of crossing your arms in the sterile attitude of the spectator, because life is not a spectacle, because a a sea of sorrows is not a proscenium, because a man who screams is not a dancing bear.” HumanityRace And Racism In America Author:Aimé Césaire
“Alas, there is no one in hell... All the devils are here!” HellDevilDemonDemonsDevils Book:A Tempest: Based on Shakespeare's 'The Tempest;' Adaptation for a Black Theatre Source: A Tempest: Based on Shakespeare's 'The Tempest;' Adaptation for a Black Theatre
“Serpent heart of ancient terrors.” HeartAncientTerrorSerpent Book:The Complete Poetry of Aimé Césaire Source: The Complete Poetry of Aimé Césaire
“A civilization that proves incapable of solving the problems it creates is a decadent civilization. A civilization that chooses to close its eyes to its most crucial problems is a stricken civilization. A civilization that uses its principles for trickery and deceit is a dying civilization.” SocietyCivilizationColonialism Book:Discourse on Colonialism Source: Discourse on Colonialism
“One cannot say that the petty bourgeois has never read anything. On the contrary, he has read everything, devoured everything. Only, his brain functions after the fashion of certain elementary types of digestive systems. It filters. And the filter lets through only what can nourish the thick skin of the bourgeois' clear conscience.” ColonialismBourgeoisBourgeoisie Book:Discourse on Colonialism Source: Discourse on Colonialism
“Prospero, you are the master of illusion. Lying is your trademark. And you have lied so much to me (Lied about the world, lied about me) That you have ended by imposing on me An image of myself. Underdeveloped, you brand me, inferior, That s the way you have forced me to see myself I detest that image! What’s more, it’s a lie! But now I know you, you old cancer, And I know myself as well.” PlayShakespeareCalibanThe TempestPostcolonial Book:A Tempest: Based on Shakespeare's 'The Tempest;' Adaptation for a Black Theatre Source: A Tempest: Based on Shakespeare's 'The Tempest;' Adaptation for a Black Theatre
“My negritude is not a stone, its deafness hurled against the clamor of the day my negritude is not a leukoma of dead liquid over the earth's dead eye my negritude is neither tower nor cathedral it takes root in the red flesh of the soil it takes root in the ardent flesh of the sky it breaks through opaque prostration with its upright patience.” Black AuthorsCaribbean LiteratureAfrican DiasporaPostcolonial LiteratureNegritude Book:Notebook of a Return to the Native Land Source: Notebook of a Return to the Native Land
“. . . car il n'est point vrai que l'oeuvre de l'homme est finie que nous n'avons rien à faire au monde que nous parasitons le monde qu'il suffit que nous nous mettions au pas du monde mais l'oeuvre de l'homme vient seulement de commencer et il reste à l'homme à conquérir toute interdiction immobilisée aux coins de sa ferveur et aucune race ne possède le monopole de la beauté, de l'intelligence, de la force . . .” PoetryAfro CaribbeanNégritude Book:Cahier d'un retour au pays natal Source: Cahier d'un retour au pays natal
“Écoutez le monde blanc horriblement las de son effort immense ses articulations rebelles craquer sous les étoiles dures ses raideurs d'acier bleu transperçant la chair mystique écoute ses victoires proditoires trompeter ses défaites écoute aux alibis grandioses son piètre trébuchement Pitié pour nos vainquers omniscients et naïfs !” PoetryAfro CaribbeanNégritude Book:Cahier d'un retour au pays natal Source: Cahier d'un retour au pays natal