Quotes from Ryszard Kapuscinski

People were really interested in what was going on because of the international context of the Cold War.

Money changes all the iron rules into rubber bands.

My writing is a combination of three elements. The first is travel: not travel like a tourist, but travel as exploration. The second is reading literature on the subject. The third is reflection.

He killed his enemies because he was afraid they would kill him. Amin ordered entire tribes to be put to death, because he feared they would rebel.

There is a lack of critical assessment of the past. But you have to understand that the current ruling elite is actually the old ruling elite. So they are incapable of a self-critical approach to the past.

Conditions were so hard. To send the news out, telex was the only means, but telex was very rare in Africa. So if somebody was flying to Europe, we gave him correspondence to send after he arrived.

Readership was high, and very attentive. It was people's only source of knowledge about the world.

We have such a mixture now, such a fusion of different genres.

I remember in 1978 meeting two Ugandan captains in the hotel talking Russian. They had been educated in Moscow and since they came from different Ugandan peoples, it was the only way they could understand one another.

Underground literature only began in the '70s, when technical developments made it possible. Before that, we were involved in a game with the censors. That was our struggle.

When man meets an obstacle he can't destroy, he destroys himself.

Our salvation is in striving to achieve what we know we'll never achieve.