The Whiteman told of another country beyond the sea where a powerful woman sat on a throne while men and women danced under the shadow of her authori… - Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o

The whiteman told of another country beyond the sea where a powerful woman sat on a throne while men and women danced under the shadow of her authority and benevolence. She was ready to spread the shadow to cover the [Gikuyu]. They laughed at this eccentric man whose skin had been so scalded that the black outside had peeled off.

Who has told you that prophesy is yours alone, to keep to yourself? Why are you furnishing yourself with empty excuses? If you do that, you will never be free of tears and pleading cries."

Gatuĩria was at least aware that the slavery of language is the slavery of the mind and nothing to be proud of."

Our people, think: I, Wangarĩ, a Kenyan by birth—how can I be a vagrant in my own country as if I were a foreigner?"