Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Beryl Markham

Quote by Beryl Markham

“In the family of continents, Africa is the silent, the brooding sister, courted for centuries by knight-errant empires - rejecting them one by one and severally, because she is too sage and a little bored with the importunity of it all.”

Quote by Beryl Markham

Book:The Illustrated West with the Night
Create image

Work

The Illustrated West with the Night

This book showcases stunning illustrations of the American West and its night sky, capturing the beauty and vastness of the natural landscape. more

Author

Beryl Markham
Beryl Markham

Beryl Markham, born on October 26, 1902, and died on August 3, 1986, was a renowned Kenyan female pilot and author. She was born in the United Kingdom but grew up in Kenya and is best known for her exceptional flying achievements and literary works. more

You May Also Like

“Africa is never the same to anyone who leaves it and returns again. It is not a land of change, but it is a land of moods and its moods are numberless. It is not fickle, but because it has mothered not only men, but races, and cradles not only cities, but civilizations - and seen them die, and seen new ones born again - Africa can be dispassionate, indifferent, warm, or cynical, replete with the weariness of too much wisdom.”

MenDiesBornRaceCitiesToo MuchLandReturnCivilizationWarmMoodCynicalIndifferentCradleBorn AgainWearinessFickleDispassionate
Author:Beryl Markham
Create image

“But the soul of Africa, its integrity, the slow inexorable pulse of its life, is its own and of such singular rhythm that no outsider, unless steeped from childhood in its endless, even beat, can ever hope to experience it, except only as a bystander might experience a Masai war dance knowing nothing of its music nor the meaning of its steps.”

WarSoulMightLife IsStepsKnowingChildhoodIntegrityBeatsEndlessRhythmOutsidersPulseInexorableBystandersKnowing NothingMasai
Book:West with the Night
Create image

“I know animals more gallant than the African warthog, but none more courageous. He is the peasant of the plains - the drab and dowdy digger in the earth. He is the uncomely but intrepid defender of family, home, and bourgeois convention, and he will fight anything of any size that intrudes upon his smug existence. ... His eyes are small and lightless and capable of but one expression - suspicion. What he does not understand, he suspects, and what he suspects, he fights.”

KnowsDoeHomeEyeEarthFightingAnimalExistenceExpressionCapableSizeHis EyesCourageousSuspectsConventionsSuspicionPeasantsBourgeoisDefendersGallantFamily Home
Book:West with the Night
Create image

“[Elephants] are less agile and physically less adaptable than ourselves - Nature having developed their bodies in one direction and their brains in another, while human beings, on the other hand, drew from Mr. Darwin's lottery of evolution both the winning ticket and the stub to match it. This, I suppose, is why we are so wonderful and can make movies and electric razors and wireless sets - and guns with which to shoot the elephant, the hare, clay pigeons, and each other.”

HumansBodyHandsWinningHuman BeingsBrainWonderfulEvolutionGunElectricTicketsElephantsClayLotteryRazorsOne DirectionPigeonsWirelessHaresAdaptable
Author:Beryl Markham
Create image