1001Philosophers

Leopold Sedar Senghor Quotes

Leopold Sedar Senghor was a Senegalese poet, philosopher, and the first president of independent Senegal. As a student in Paris in the 1930s, he was a co-founder of the Negritude movement alongside Aime Cesaire and Leon Damas, articulating a vision of a distinctly African mode of knowing and being and a humanism rooted in the convergence of cultures. The quotes below are attributed to Leopold Sedar Senghor, organized by topic.

Leopold Sedar Senghor on Politics

  • Attributed to Leopold Sedar Senghor:

    “Negritude is the sum of cultural values of the black world.”

  • Attributed to Leopold Sedar Senghor:

    “Civilization, in the end, is dialogue.”

  • Attributed to Leopold Sedar Senghor:

    “African socialism is not a doctrine; it is the result of African experience.”

  • Attributed to Leopold Sedar Senghor:

    “Culture is at the beginning and at the end of all development.”

  • Attributed to Leopold Sedar Senghor:

    “Negritude is, in essence, a cultural movement, but its political consequences are real.”

Read all Leopold Sedar Senghor quotes on Politics

Leopold Sedar Senghor on Time

  • Attributed to Leopold Sedar Senghor:

    “We must not regret the past, but prepare the future.”