Ibn Warraq Quotes - Page 2

The rich countries are rich because of their practices at home, and because of their readiness to adopt and adapt new things, such as Chinese inventions or New World crops.

Because of its exceptional capacity for self-criticism, the West took the initiative in abolishing slavery; the calls for abolition did not resonate even in black Africa, where rival African tribes took black prisoners to be sold as slaves in the West.

I wish more people would belabor the obvious, and more often.

Each time you admire the façade of the New York Public Library, you are paying homage to Western civilization.

I always have tendency to form very strong local attachments, so I was very keen to find out about the school I was going to, its history, and the countryside. I was acquiring a kind of English character if you like, Englishness about things and my attitudes.

Abolitionism did not find positive response in Africa as it did in Western societies and cultures.

Slavery had very little to do with the economic success of the West. Just look at the facts and figures and how much slavery actually contributed to development.

By working and living in New York, you are breathing Western civilization, continuously reminded of its benefits and its values.

Discussions of Western civilization are too often confined to works of high art that reflect a relatively narrow element of public taste and experience.

I maintain that Western popular culture at its best is worthy of respect and should be cherished as much as the operas of Wagner.

The idea that the West was economically successful because of slavery, it's just nonsense.

Being from a minority culture, I realised the importance of looking at non-Western cultures in a positive way.

You can't grow up without taking a few knocks on the way. All parents know that, but children when they're growing up, they take some knocks, and nasty knocks sometimes if they've been too protected.