John Mbiti Quotes
John Samuel Mbiti was a Kenyan-born Christian theologian and philosopher and the founding scholar of the modern academic study of African religions and philosophy. After studies in Uganda, the United States, and Cambridge, he held chairs in Africa, Europe, and America, and served as director of the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey in Switzerland. The quotes below are attributed to John Mbiti, organized by topic.
Browse John Mbiti by topic
John Mbiti on God
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Attributed to John Mbiti:
“Religion permeates every aspect of African life.”
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Attributed to John Mbiti:
“African religions are the foundation of African philosophy.”
John Mbiti on Justice
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“No brilliance is needed in the law. Nothing but common sense, and relatively clean finger nails.”
Voyage Round My Father (1971), act 1
John Mbiti on Knowledge
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“Voyage Round My Father (1971), act 1”
No brilliance is needed in the law. Nothing but common sense, and relatively clean finger nails. -
“Do we want blanks, asterisks and exclamation marks which people can fill in with their own imaginations, or are we prepared and strong enough to tolerate, even if we do not approve, the strong Anglo-Saxon, realistic and vivid language?”
Defending record shop proprietor Christopher Seale against obscenity charges for displaying advertisements for Sex Pistols ' LP Never Mind the Bollocks, Nottingham Magistrates Court (14 November 1977) -
“I suppose that writers should, in a way, feel flattered by the censorship laws. They show a primitive fear and dread at the fearful magic of print.”
Clinging to the Wreckage : A Part of Life (1982), p. 183 -
“In The Observer (28 June 1987)”
The shelf life of the modern hardback writer is somewhere between the milk and the yoghurt.
John Mbiti on Life
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“The shelf life of the modern hardback writer is somewhere between the milk and the yoghurt.”
In The Observer (28 June 1987)
John Mbiti on Mind
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“Defending record shop proprietor Christopher Seale against obscenity charges for displaying advertisements for Sex Pistols ' LP Never Mind the Bollocks, Nottingham Magistrates Court (14 November 1977)”
Do we want blanks, asterisks and exclamation marks which people can fill in with their own imaginations, or are we prepared and strong enough to tolerate, even if we do not approve, the strong Anglo-Saxon, realistic and vivid language?
John Mbiti on Nature
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“I found criminal clients easy and matrimonial clients hard. Matrimonial clients hate each other so much and use their children to hurt each other in beastly ways. Murderers have usually killed the one person in the world that was bugging them and they're usually quite peaceful and agreeable.”
As quoted in "Rumpole creator Mortimer dies at 85" by Sam Marsden and Chris Moncrieff, The Independent (16 January 2009)
John Mbiti on Politics
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Attributed to John Mbiti:
“I am because we are; and since we are, therefore I am.”
John Mbiti on Time
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Attributed to John Mbiti:
“Time in African thought is meaningful only insofar as it has been experienced.”
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Attributed to John Mbiti:
“Without the past, the present has no roots and the future no wings.”