Top 12 Quotes & Sayings by Henry Morton Stanley

Explore popular quotes and sayings by a Welsh explorer Henry Morton Stanley.

Last updated on April 22, 2025.

Sir Henry Morton Stanley was a Welsh-American explorer, journalist, soldier, colonial administrator, author and politician who was famous for his exploration of Central Africa and his search for missionary and explorer David Livingstone, whom he later claimed to have greeted with the now-famous line: "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?". Besides his discovery of Livingstone, he is mainly known for his search for the sources of the Nile and Congo rivers, the work he undertook as an agent of King Leopold II of the Belgians which enabled the occupation of the Congo Basin region, and his command of the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition. He was knighted in 1897, and served in Parliament as a Liberal Unionist member for Lambeth North from 1895 to 1900.

Welsh - Explorer | January 28, 1841 - May 10, 1904

Source: Wikipedia

But my estimates, for instance, based upon book information, were simply ridiculous, fanciful images of African attractions were soon dissipated, anticipated pleasures vanished, and all crude ideas began to resolve themselves into shape.

Henry Morton Stanley

An insuperable obstacle to rapid transit in Africa is the want of carriers, and as speed was the main object of the Expedition under my command, my duty was to lessen this difficulty as much as possible.

Henry Morton Stanley

The sky lovingly smiles on the earth and her children.

Henry Morton Stanley

Dr. David Livingstone left the Island of Zanzibar in March, 1866.

Henry Morton Stanley

I had intended to have gone into Africa incognito. But the fact that a white man, even an American, was about to enter Africa was soon known all over Zanzibar.

Henry Morton Stanley

The Europeans and Americans residing in the town of Zanzibar are either Government officials, independent merchants, or agents for a few great mercantile houses in Europe and America.

Henry Morton Stanley

When I examine the conclusion [on experiments with the electric light bulb experiments published in the Herald] which everyone acquainted with the subject will recognize as a conspicuous failure, trumpeted as a wonderful success, I [conclude]... that the writer ... must either be very ignorant, and the victim of deceit, or a conscious accomplice in what is nothing less than a fraud upon the public.

Henry Morton Stanley

Religion acts as a moral gardener, to weed out, or suppress, evil tendencies, which, like weeds and nettles, would shoot up spontaneously in the wonderful compost of the garden, if unwatched.

Henry Morton Stanley

The more experience and insight I obtain into human nature, the more convinced do I become that the greater portion of a man is purely animal.

Henry Morton Stanley

Socialism is a return to primitive conditions.

Henry Morton Stanley

Doctor Livingstone, I presume?

Henry Morton Stanley

Everyone acquainted with the subject will recognize it as a conspicuous failure.

Henry Morton Stanley