All Quotes

"Most people intuitively grasp the basic rules of logic and probability—we wouldn’t have survived otherwise. Human reason is a bag of tricks and heuristics, mostly accurate in the environments in which we evolved, but easily led astray in modern life. And it is strategic and self-serving, motivated to reach conclusions that serve our own interests."

"Theory is part of the romance of archaeology and is vital if we want to breathe some life into the snippets of information drawn from stone and other artefacts."

"The reason why much of Stone Age history has remained a secret for so long is not that it may not be told or that it has not been told in other books, but rather that it has to be individually discovered. Because we are remote from the past, we have to find it and immerse ourselves in it, if we wish to understand it and unlock its secrets. Pursuing the past is rewarding, and we hope it is a challenge more will follow."

"The faunal sample from Kadzi, an Early Iron Age site in the Zambezi Valley, is the first substantial sample for that period and region in Zimbabwe."

"The site appears to have been a permanent or semipermanent settlement. The sample consists mainly of bovid remains, dominated by buffalo as a single species, suggesting special hunting skills."

"The presence of some domestic animals proves that these animals were available to the inhabitants of the site. Their status in the community is, however, uncertain. Possible explanations for the small number of cattle fragments could be the result of paucity of livestock for environmental or other reasons, or may reflect differential disposal of cattle bones as part of ritual expression."

"At a time when the British showed no particular enthusiasm for cleanliness, Indian women for example introduced British men to the delights of regular bathing. The fact that the word shampoo is derived from the Hindi word for massage, and that it entered the English language at this time, shows the novelty to the eighteenth-century British of the Indian idea of cleaning hair with materials other than soap. Those who returned home and continued to bathe and shampoo themselves on a regular basis found themselves scoffed at by their less hygienic compatriots: indeed it was a cliché of the time that the British in Bengal had become ‘effeminate’."

""The fact that even smaller towns and villages had impressive drainage systems” remarks Kenoyer, “indicates that removing polluted water and sewage was an important part of the daily concerns of the Indus people.”"

"A surprising spirit of cleanliness is to be observed among the Hindoos: the streets of their villages are commonly swept and watered, and sand is frequently strewed before the doors of the houses."

"Cleanliness was literally next to godliness in India; hygiene was not, as Anatole France thought it, la seule morale, but it was made an essential part of piety. Manu laid down, many centuries ago, an exacting code of physical refinement. “Early in the morning,” one instruction reads, “let him” (the Brahman) “bathe, decorate his body, clean his teeth, apply collyrium to his eyes, and worship the gods.” The native schools made good manners and personal cleanliness the first courses in the curriculum. Every day the caste Hindu would bathe his body, and wash the simple robe he was to wear; it seemed to him abominable to use the same garment, unwashed, for more than a day. “The Hindus,” said Sir William Huber, “stand out as examples of bodily cleanliness among Asiatic races, and, we may add, among the races of the world. The ablutions of the Hindu have passed into a proverb.”"

"The Brahman usually washed his hands, feet and teeth before and after each meal; he ate with his fingers from food on a leaf, and thought it unclean to use twice a plate, a knife or a fork; and when finished he rinsed his mouth seven times. The toothbrush was always new—a twig freshly plucked from a tree; to the Hindu it seemed disreputable to brush the teeth with the hair of an animal, or to use the same brush twice: so many are the ways in which men may scorn one another."

"I will continue writing and I will carry on trying to promote my thinking. I want to use my research to create awareness in a bid to improve the current situation."

"You would, my Arabella, be enraptured at the extreme neatness of even the meanest attendant; but besides the beauty and the virtue of cleanliness, it is the only fence in the East against putrid diseases. That unerring guide, Nature, who teaches the people of the North to fortify themselves with furs against their inclement seasons, bids the inhabitants of Indostan be correctly delicate in their persons, and personal attire: to which the circumstance of all the servants being Gentoos not a little contributes; for diurnal immersion in the river Ganges is one of the strict articles of their religion, at the same time that it is a general benefit to the Europeans."

"Purity means cleanliness of mind and body; the latter is effected by the use of water etc. No nation in the world is as cleanly in the body as the Hindu, who uses water very freely."

"For their part, Indians and Asians considered Westerners puzzlingly dirty. To some extent, it was a matter of merocrine sweat glands, which Caucasians have in profusion while Asians have few or none. (Because of this, they can still find even clean Westerners very smelly.) Partly it was that Christianity’s emphasis on the spirit encouraged a certain neglect and disparagement of the physical side of life, and Christian teachings, unlike those of Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam, ignored hygiene. And partly the difference between West and East was that much of Europe took a long hiatus when it came to regular washing, roughly from the late Middle Ages to the eighteenth or nineteenth century, and non Westerners who encountered Europeans in those centuries were often stunned by their abysmal hygiene."

"Q: Some new projects like the Desmund Tutu forgiveness project are promoting forgiveness as a way forward from violence. In the closing chapters of your book, you also wrote about forgiveness. You have known pain; day by day, more people are experiencing undeserved pain with the many incidence of violence in our world today. Is Forgiveness the solution? A: In our culture in Somalia, we do not go to the court when offended. Culturally, we select wise elderly people to sit and decide over disputes. To the offender, they punish and to the offended, they say please forgive. Sometimes the punishment of the offender is the price of Camels or Cows. This way, people whose rights are violated become happy. We never hold on to grudge, we forgive each other immediately because we were the children of one father. This was Somali culture; this is why I crave for the return of that culture. We can stop these court cases and proceedings that require appeals upon appeals and corruption. Now they divide by clan, clans are no solution; the solution is one society where we have understanding of oneness with no clan division and where no man is allowed to beat his wife or another person."

"Q: Tell me about Somalia as you know it. A: Somalia was a very strong country, my favourite African country. They developed really fast then and Mogadishu was the prettiest city in the world before everything collapsed. All who fought for independence and showed patriotism were greeted with shock at its fall. In our time, we were trying to hold on the clans but the men just want to be angry, to fight and to kill. Clan mentality was destructive but our people didn’t listen or understand this, and then we lost a lot. People of importance have fled the land, and some died. Some became sick with stroke and are now living daily on their beds. These things have changed Mogadishu. In later years, with the formation of a new government, Somalia’s in Diaspora came back with big hope after waiting for years. Expectations were high, but not much has happened there. One day I hope we will pass this situation and go to the peace side."

"[E]very morning all 200 million of us get out of bed and put a lot of energy into creating and re-creating the social calamities that oppress, infuriate and exhaust us."

"It is easy to produce examples of the many ways in which Americans attempt to minimize, circumvent, or deny the interdependence upon which all human societies are based. We seek a private house, a private means of transportation, a private garden, a private laundry, self-service stores, and do-it-yourself skills of every kind. An enormous technology seems to have set itself the task of making it unnecessary for one human being ever to ask anything of another in the course of going about his daily business."

"Our economy is based on spending billions to persuade people that happiness is buying things, and then insisting that the only way to have a viable economy is to make things for people to buy so they'll have jobs and get enough money to buy things."

"The troubles we're experiencing didn't arise because someone made the wrong economic prediction, or used the wrong economic indicator or the wrong theory of corporate investment. They arose because we've been using our energies mindlessly for decades; we've put our labor and resources into activities that have brought us nothing back."

"The idea that everybody wants money is propaganda circulated by wealth addicts to make themselves feel better about their addiction."

"Instead of using money to serve ourselves, we use ourselves to serve money."

"[If] the purposes for which money were designed were fulfilled completely, there would be no reason for humans to exist as decision-making beings."

"As a society, we encourage selfishness. We expect people to be interested primarily in their private or family welfare, with little concern for community needs. The care of the sick, old, disturbed, or poor, for example—a task that most societies take for granted—is carried out grudgingly, carelessly, or not at all."

"[If] you brainwash people into forgetting that they're part of each other, you can manipulate them...that's how individualism leads to fascism - divide and conquer."

"Conflict will never be eliminated from human affairs. Conflict is simply the active expression of difference, and an essential part of human development. Without conflict change would be impossible. Our goal as a species at this point in our development is to mold a world in which conflict can be contained within a larger embracing understanding—the realization that we share certain goals and aspirations in common, no matter how much we scream at each other about procedures."

"Americans need to wake up to the fact that right-wing Republicans don't believe in democracy and never have. They have always admired military dictatorships and seem to be working hard to set up the equivalent here in the United States. Their goal is to create an authoritarian government, with control of the media and the judiciary; to weaken all restraints on executive power and eliminate democratic freedoms; to undermine the public education system through fiscal starvation and rote learning, so that the poor will learn only enough to follow orders; and to create the kind of economic inequality so many Third World countries enjoy--by filling the pockets of a tiny group of extremely rich individuals and impoverishing the rest, thereby providing a mass of cheap labor."

"Some people may never discover who they are, and not knowing can be just as powerful as knowing"

"Let the Rejections Roll in and Roll off"

"Economics is really politics in disguise. We need to unpack the whole thing and say, 'Look, an economy is really nothing but a set of rules. Let's be up front about it. There's no actual science here.'"

"Most of our long-held beliefs about money, wealth, productivity and efficiency, and our notions of progress are rooted in immature, often infantile states of mind—easily manipulated by politicians and advertisers...Luckily, individuals learn faster than institutions and many people may already be ahead of their leaders.""

"If we can recognize that change and uncertainty are basic principles, we can greet the future and the transformation we are undergoing with the understanding that we do not know enough to be pessimistic."

"You are made in the likeness of your ancestors. ... As we move through life, it is important to remember the wisdom of those before us. Life changes day to day."

"Q: Why Price Media Law Moot? A: I tried to get into the Mooting Society twice. And I remembered the first time I tried. My friend, Daniel Jaiyeoba told me to try out for any and every moot competition that came up but the only thing that really resonated with me was Price Media Law Moot so I tried out ‘cause I love media, and growing up, one of my dreams was to be a reporter but I got into law so it seemed like a great way to start bridging the gap of the career as a lawyer and my dreams of being in the media industry."

"Q: Do you think there’s a future here for media law in Nigeria or generally, Africa? A: Yes, I think there is because we have a large number of Nigerians becoming more internet savvy. We have a lot of popular bloggers and vloggers and these are the sort of things media law covers. We also need more legislations, more decisions, more awareness on how exactly things are done and how to be in tandem with international standards. Also, just make sure that Africa is at par with the other continents. So, yeah, I think there is a future for media law in Nigeria."

"Q: What was running through your mind the moment you landed in South Africa? A: Am I really here? It was a really daunting journey getting to South Africa. At a point, I actually gave up. I mean, I gave up several times. I had parents who were loving and very worried about me in the process, it was really tiring. But then, I got there and I was like, am I really here? I don’t think it dawned on me, until I got to the University of Johannesburg."

"Q: What is one thing about you that changed during the process of Price Media Law Moot? A: My knowledge about internet intermediaries. Before I started Price Media Law Moot, I didn’t even know that internet companies had liability. And then, I really focused on Scoops. So, I got to read a lot of materials and develop more interest in internet intermediary liabilities and one thing that happened to me while I was in South Africa is I realised that no matter where you go to or no matter how far you stray away from being yourself, you never stop being yourself. The moment you start preparing and you decide, I’m going to be myself, you are going to excel because that is who you are, you can’t be anyone else. My experience made me realise that I had been living in fear saying oh, I can’t do this thing, it’s been forever since I was out to speak publicly and I stood up and I had white judges and there were Indians and it was like, my bones were filled with cement. And I just felt this like this is who I am, this is what I have been doing since I was born, this is who I am and I am always going to be excellent at it. It gave me peace, to know that I was still myself."

"Although we are making little progress with the little or no facilities at our disposal, we strongly believe that given the right tools we will certainly perform better."

"It is the desire of this research group to fast track development through human and infrastructural capacity building, consequently reducing the gap between the developed and the emerging economies."

"In my mind, I need to represent and not necessarily be loud as in yelling, but loud in my excitement, loud in my demeanor."

"It gives me great pleasure to be here today with my most esteemed brethren from far and near. I have not seen many of you for some time now. So, this event, being the first, calls for many more. It is my fervent belief that we can live up to that pledge."

"Let me take a few minutes to stress why we are here in offering this heartfelt goodwill message. Ndi banyi, taa bug boo. We have come a long way since the days of the Missionaries. Nsukka boasted of many scholars and philanthropists that emerged during that era. Fast forward; we have fought a civil war, rebuilt Nigeria and the University of Nigeria remains in our back-yard. When we take stock, we cannot say we didn’t do okay. But in the grand scheme of things, more could be done."

"Let us look within ourselves and utilize especially the potentials within our youth. They graduate in hundreds every year. We must figure out a way to become reliant on them. My hope and wish is that we find ways to develop incubator-centers where young graduates from all schools can spend time and serve our people."

"Ask for help, be patient with yourself, have grace, be kind to everyone, learn how to disagree without being disagreeable, and I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about self-care. Every time I give advice, I never miss the opportunity to talk about the importance of self-care. As leaders, we have to do better jobs of creating self-care cultures, where people understand that burnout should not be the badge of honor that we seek. There are going to be times in life when you’re going to fail, and you have to use those failures as stepping stones to success and stepping stones to growth]"

"Colleges must use radical imagination to ensure the positive disruptive change needed to survive and thrive."

"Q: What were the challenges you faced at the beginning of your career? A: I was lucky to serve in a research institute as I said but after the service, my supervisor was interested in retaining us but there was a bottleneck. So when I finished service, because I didn’t just want to sit at home, I went to a nursery school and was teaching there."

"While teaching in the nursery school, I felt I was doing less than I should be doing and there was a time a classmate of mine came with her sister to pick her children. She saw me teaching and I was ashamed. She greeted me and told me she was going to London that night. You can imagine how I would feel but later I sat down and psyched myself up that there was dignity in labour and started enjoying myself. I discovered that my little students like me. I made myself enjoy that place until I left and went for my master’s. After my master’s, I went for my PhD. I was lucky I got a fellowship for my PhD so money was not a challenge."

"Q: What will you say is the secret of your success? A: It is God. He is the one that gives you favour. When you apply for a grant, it is God that inspires you to write the proposal. Apart from God, my husband is a great inspiration to me, he motivates me. When he sees me slowing down, he encourages me to do more and keep me on my feet. Determination and the fact that I attended a lot of training gave me an edge over my peers. I have been exposed to a lot of things but I have learnt to be humble with my success."

"Q: What advice do you have for career women? A: My advice to women is that as their husbands progress, they should progress too. If not, their husbands would relegate them. That is why so many politicians don’t parade their first wives, they parade the appointment wives. So, as your husband is developing, develop too. Make up your mind that as you grow in your career, you won’t lose your home. When a woman is growing in her career, she must be humble. Your humility can make a way for you. Be submissive and wise. Finally, a woman does not jump at every opportunity if she wants to keep her home."