"Nearly a quarter of a century has passed since this short book was first published . So much has happened in this time. In 1942, the book involved presentation that I described as 'history shading into legend'. Today, we in Kenya are making our own history, as an independent Republic. In the dark years of the war, when this work was written, social studies might have seemed absurdly academic, were it not for the living faith of a Christian society. A generation later, we find a new perspective, a greater and more universal enlightenment, brought about by swifter communications and mass media which probe into and make familiar all the social patterns of our human family."

"The basis of any independent government is a national language, and we can no longer continue aping our former colonizers … those who feel they cannot do without English can as well pack up and go."

"Whether I am a Christian or not is none of your business. Mr. Speaker, I have nothing to add. My friend, I can see that your philosophy is running short; The Bible is not the property of one nation or of one group of people, it can be quoted by anyone, even you. I have nothing further to add to the answer that I have already given. I do, however, call upon the Kenya nation to wake up and help itself. Thank you."

"Don't be fooled into turning to Communism looking for food.]]"

"Some people try deliberately to exploit the colonial hangover for their own purpose, to serve an external force. To us, Communism is as bad as imperialism. What we want is to develop the Kenya Nationalism which helped us to win the struggle against imperialism. We do not want somebody else's nationalism. It is a sad mistake to think that you can get more food, more hospitals or schools by crying "Communism". "I am amused by those who suggest that we cannot condemn something we have not seen or tasted: I have even heard it said our only threat: is neo-colonialism from the West. I speak plainly on this subject today because the time has come for us to do so, in order to leave no room for confusion. I am happy that we have our Constitution, a document on African Socialism, and a Party Manifesto. These three documents have been endorsed by our people and Parliament and must be a guide to our new society. It is now for the public to judge the actions of the Government, and the utterances of all our leaders, according to what is laid."

"Unless we have a Government with capable officers to run it, then our Government will fall tomorrow. I want the people to understand this: that we have this policy of Africanization, as we have during the time we have taken over the Government; people are being trained for various posts, and when they are ready we shall give them responsibility, but we cannot take people just because they are black and say "All right, you run this, you run that." We have to learn by experience, and this is the policy of my Government. In our Kanu manifiesto, we state clearly that we are not going to discriminate because of race, colour or religion. We are going to treat Kenyans on an equal footing and the law of Kenya is going to apply to Europeans, Asians and Africans, those who are citizens of this country. They are going to be treated alike. We cannot have our cake and eat it. We have started our policy and we are going to follow it."

"I have no intention of retaliating or looking backwards. We are going to forget the past and look forward to the future."

"God said this is our land, land in which we flourish as people... we want our cattle to get fat on our land so that our children grow up in prosperity; and we do not want the fat removed to feed others."

"Jomo Kenyatta's powerful book Facing Mount Kenya is a living example of this integrative function of culture. To read it is to witness a world with an inner, dynamic spirit; it is also an authentic refutation of the missionary condemnation of what they, the semi-gods, thought was savage and dark."

"He got support from the peasant masses and urban workers because he was a symbol of their deepest aspirations. To have imprisoned him was futile, because he was himself only a symbol of social forces which could never be finally put down by the gun."