Tutu, Desmond -- “Fortieth Anniversary of the Republic,” speech (1981)

Dave — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:01:11 +0000

History, like beauty, depends largely on the beholder, so when you read that, for example, David Livingstone discovered the Victoria Falls, you might be forgiven for thinking that there was nobody around the Falls until Livingstone arrived on the scene.

Desmond Tutu (1931–2021) South African cleric, Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, Nobel Laureate
“Fortieth Anniversary of the Republic,” speech (1981)

See Richard Cumberland.

Orwell, George -- Essay (1936, Autumn), “Shooting an Elephant,” New Writing, No. 2

Dave — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 12:51:58 +0000

I perceived in this moment that when the white man turns tyrant it is his own freedom that he destroys. He becomes a sort of hollow, posing dummy, the conventionalized figure of a sahib. For it is the condition of his rule that he shall spend his life in trying to impress the “natives,” and so in every crisis he has got to do what the “natives” expect of him. He wears a mask, and his face grows to fit it.

George Orwell (1903–1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1936, Autumn), “Shooting an Elephant,” New Writing, No. 2

The essay/story is thought to be at least semi-autobiographical, which would set the events in the mid-1920s.

WIST Quotations

Tutu, Desmond -- “Fortieth Anniversary of the Republic,” speech (1981)

Orwell, George -- Essay (1936, Autumn), “Shooting an Elephant,” New Writing, No. 2