The Negro enslaved by his inferiority, the white man enslaved by his superiority alike behave in accordance with a neurotic orientation.

If the building of a bridge does not enrich the awareness of those who work on it, then the bridge ought not to be built.

Get used to me, I am not getting used to anyone.

No attempt must be made to encase man, for it is his destiny to be set free.

I ascribe a basic importance to the phenomenon of language. To speak means to be in a position to use a certain syntax, to grasp the morphology of this or that language, but it means above all to assume a culture, to support the weight of a civilization.

[Educated blacks] Society refuses to consider them genuine Negroes. The Negro is a savage, whereas the student is civilized. "You're us," and if anyone thinks you are a Negro he is mistaken, because you merely look like one.

It is the white man who creates the Negro. But it is the negro who creates negritude.