Quotes from Life and Death Among the Somalis by Hanley

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Quotes from Life and Death Among the Somalis by Hanley

Post by Voltage »

Gerald Hanley is an old Colonial hand who lived with Somalis. This is from his book Warriors: Life and Death Among the Somalis

"A Somali always felt himself to be twice as good as any white man, or
any other kind of man at all, and still does, even when he is wrong.
Islam does wonders for the self respect of non-white people and
Christianity is right to worry about the spread of Islam in Africa, and
must honestly face the question of why it has happened - "


"Of all the desiccated, bitter, cruel, sunbeaten wildernesses which
starve and thirst beyond the edges of Africa's luscious, jungled centre,
there cannot be one more Christless than the one which begins at the
northern foot of Mount Kenya and stretches to the foothills of Abyssinia,
and from there to the dried-out glittering tip of Cape Gardafui where the
hot karif winds blow in from where the long sharks race under the thin
blue skin of the ocean. You can never think of those wildernesses without
thinking of daggers and spears, rolling fierce eyes under mops of dusty
black crinkly hair, of mad stubborn camels, rocks too hot to touch, and
blood feuds whose origins cannot be remembered, only honoured in the
stabbing. But of all the races of Africa there cannot be one better to
live among than the most difficult, the proudest, the bravest, the
vainest, the most merciless, the friendliest; the Somalis."


"I knew an Italian priest who had spent over thirty years among the
Somalis and he made two converts, and it amazed me that he got even those
two. The Prophet has no more fervent, and ignorant, followers, but that
is not their fault that they are ignorant.Their natural intelligence is
second to none and when the education factories start work among them
they should surprise Africa, and themselves."



"I never saw a Somali who showed any fear of death, which, impressive
though it sounds, carries within it the chill of pitilessness and
ferocity as well. If you have no fear of death you have none for anybody
else's either, but that fearlessness has always been essential to the
Somalis who have had to try and survive hunger, disease and thirst while
prepared to fight and die against their enemies, their fellow Somalis for
pleasure in the blood feud, or the Ethiopians who would like to rule
them
, or the white men who got in the way for a while."


"Everytime a Somali got whipped, an Italian soldier was killed"

"Wandering in The Shag (desert) were Somalis with some of the sharpest
intelligences in the continent
, nomads who had been forced into being
parasites of the camel, for centuries, and could anyone ever find a way
of using all that courage and intelligence?"


"There is no one alive as tough as the Somali nomad. No one.
An askari wounded in a fight in the Haud country walked 14 miles holding
his guts in his hand, was sewn up and lived to soldier again. And the
women are as spiritually strong as their men.
"

"....You get into that way of thinking in the Somali waste. You think
that way because the Somalis bitterly resent the white man, and struggle
continually, and admirably, by lies and intrigue, to fight off his
influence which spells the end of their peculiar world. You cannot beat
them. They have no inferiority complexes, no wide-eyed worship of the
white man's ways, and no fear of him, of his guns or of his official
anger. They are a race to be admired, if hard to love.
"


Courtesy of Gedoboy.
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Re: Quotes from Life and Death Among the Somalis by Hanley

Post by BaasAbuur »

Their natural intelligence is
second to none and when the education factories start work among them
they should surprise Africa, and themselves
I like this quote. I really do hope we surprise ourselves in a positive way.
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Re: Quotes from Life and Death Among the Somalis by Hanley

Post by new-york24 »

"I never saw a Somali who showed any fear of death, which, impressive
though it sounds, carries within it the chill of pitilessness and
ferocity as well
sadly today they fear death.
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Re: Quotes from Life and Death Among the Somalis by Hanley

Post by Kramer »

Somalis are known for two things intillegence and bravery!

but as we are fighting for 20yrs on, plus as i grow, I'm starting to believe the opposite!
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Re: Quotes from Life and Death Among the Somalis by Hanley

Post by FAH1223 »


"I knew an Italian priest who had spent over thirty years among the
Somalis and he made two converts, and it amazed me that he got even those
two. The Prophet has no more fervent, and ignorant, followers, but that
is not their fault that they are ignorant.Their natural intelligence is
second to none and when the education factories start work among them
they should surprise Africa, and themselves."


we sure suprised Africa, both when we had a county and when we destroyed it :lol:
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Re: Quotes from Life and Death Among the Somalis by Hanley

Post by Voltage »

:lol: :lol: Fah
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Re: Quotes from Life and Death Among the Somalis by Hanley

Post by LaQaNyO »

"Wandering in The Shag (desert) were Somalis with some of the sharpest
intelligences in the continent,
nomads who had been forced into being
parasites of the camel, for centuries, and could anyone ever find a way
of using all that courage and intelligence?"
1 Million Dollar Q

But of all the races of Africa there cannot be one better to
live among than the most difficult, the proudest, the bravest, the
vainest, the most merciless, the friendliest; the Somalis."
Lol... Somalies are so transparent, bless their cotton socks.. aww i love my people :som:
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Re: Quotes from Life and Death Among the Somalis by Hanley

Post by FAH1223 »

uppin this piff
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Re: Quotes from Life and Death Among the Somalis by Hanley

Post by FAH1223 »

btw could somali bravery be attributed to khat? :lol: :lol:
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Re: Quotes from Life and Death Among the Somalis by Hanley

Post by xoogSADE14 »

Taasi waa Soomalidii hore.
FAH1223 wrote:btw could somali bravery be attributed to khat? :lol: :lol:

Khat wasn't as widely used back in the days as it is today. Xerta tima weeynta iyo dad yaroo magaalooyinka waqooyi ku nool umbaa cuni jiray.
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Re: Quotes from Life and Death Among the Somalis by Hanley

Post by Voltage »

Look at this other colonial guy remembering back his days with Somalis :lol:

"Described as "the Irishmen of Africa", Somalis are proud, violent, romantic, imaginative and quick-witted - not unlike the natives of Erin, a land of lush fertility and EU-boosted prosperity. A country of bush, rocks too hot to touch and brackish water has created a quick-tempered warrior race, fiercer, it is said, than Afghan tribesmen, with a contempt for pain or death, who can pull the trigger, sometimes before they are insulted."

"Peacock-proud Somali males often insisted on being treated like prince-lings and, if you had different views, could, socially, cut you dead in more ways than one. Many, however, had an austere dignity about them, best seen when walking, carrying only a spear while their women, burdened with household loads, struggled behind."

"Despite its resemblance to one of Dante’s more uncongenial circles of Hades, I became fond of that nomads’ land, its wilderness silences broken by the khareef - the hot desert wind - the tinkling of sheep bells, the passage of camel-borne caravans and its coastline flecked with dhows, heraldic in the sun. I also developed an admiration for the endurance qualities of the Twiglets-thin, poor but proud Somalis, who claimed, against all evidence, that their land was a Garden of Eden."

"The bravest, most merciless but, when they accept you, the friendliest of African peoples, the Somalis are also among the most intelligent. If they could overcome centuries of mayhem and murder, they could transform a dangerous African dustbin into a prosperous, modern state."


http://news.scotsman.com/albertmorris/A ... 2289788.jp
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Re: Quotes from Life and Death Among the Somalis by Hanley

Post by Gedo_Boy »

And you have people ashamed to be Somali. 8-)

People will respect you when you respect yourself!
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Re: Quotes from Life and Death Among the Somalis by Hanley

Post by Somaliman50 »

There is no one alive as tough as the Somali nomad. No one.
An askari wounded in a fight in the Haud country walked 14 miles holding
his guts in his hand, was sewn up and lived to soldier again. And the
women are as spiritually strong as their men
.

Damn, that's bold to the core. If an imperialist would belittle other Africans, but could recognize our traits, than that makes me proud to be a Somali 8-)
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Re: Quotes from Life and Death Among the Somalis by Hanley

Post by black velvet »

We are tough, strong, intelligent, proud and innovative. There is no doubt that with a little bit of peace we will flourish :up:
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Re: Quotes from Life and Death Among the Somalis by Hanley

Post by snoop12 »

Somalis are blessed that aint nothing new :shock: its not a coincidence that our education thrived all over the country, NATURAL INTELLIGENCE :up: :som: :rose:

and it is no Wonder that has yet to be seen, because we have proof of how fast we reached power when we put our minds to it and stood united :som: we already headed the African Union LOL and south Africa knows what we did to help Mandela :up: 8-)
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