# Ryszard Kapuściński's most famous quotes (with the book they come from)

From The Emperor and Shah of Shahs to The Shadow of the Sun, Lapidaria and Travels with Herodotus: the most quoted sentences by Ryszard Kapuściński on power, travel, Africa and journalism, each with the title of its book.

- 95 votes · 16 items
- Oct 15, 2022 · Wojciech Z.
- https://even.best/en/l/5177/ryszard-kapuscinski-s-most-famous-quotes-with-the-book-they-come-from

## Top 16

1. **Only children ask important questions and truly want to learn something.** (10 · ▲10 ▼0) — Book "Travels with Herodotus", 2004.
2. **There is such a thing as being infected by travel, and it is essentially an incurable disease.** (9 · ▲9 ▼0) — Book "Travels with Herodotus", 2004.
3. **Morning and dusk are the most pleasant hours in Africa. The sun is not yet burning, or no longer scorching: it lets you exist, it lets you live.** (8 · ▲8 ▼0) — Book "The Shadow of the Sun", 1998.
4. **To practise journalism, above all you must be a good person. Bad people cannot be good journalists.** (6 · ▲6 ▼0) — Interview with Maria Nadotti, in "The Cynic Is Not Suited to This Job", 2002.
5. **A dictatorship never falls gradually, bit by bit, but always instantly and completely.** (6 · ▲6 ▼0) — Book "Christ with a Rifle on His Shoulder", 1975.
6. **Countries that do not take in people from the Third World will themselves turn into the Third World.** (5 · ▲5 ▼0) — From the "Lapidaria" series.
7. **It is never warm at the top. Icy winds blow, everyone stands hunched and has to watch that the neighbour does not push him over the edge.** (4 · ▲6 ▼2) — Book "The Emperor", 1978.
8. **No palace collapses on its own.** (4 · ▲5 ▼1) — Book "The Emperor", 1978.
9. **In politics you have to know how to wait. Whoever waits better wins.** (4 · ▲5 ▼1) — Book "Christ with a Rifle on His Shoulder", 1975.
10. **Flowers do not smell for themselves, but always for someone.** (3 · ▲4 ▼1) — Book "Imperium", 1993.
11. **I fear a world without values, without sensitivity, without thought. A world where everything is possible. Because then evil is the most possible.** (3 · ▲4 ▼1) — From the "Lapidaria" series.
12. **When you hurry, you see nothing, you live through nothing, you experience nothing, you do not think!** (3 · ▲4 ▼1) — Book "Lapidarium V", 2002.
13. **Whoever wants to know how much it costs to win a war should look at our cemeteries.** (2 · ▲4 ▼2) — Book "The Soccer War", 1978.
14. **If out of many truths you choose only one and follow it blindly, it will turn into falsehood and you will become a fanatic.** (2 · ▲3 ▼1) — From the "Lapidaria" series.
15. **An anachronistic system is one that gives old answers to new questions.** (2 · ▲3 ▼1) — From the "Lapidaria" series.
16. **The world is threatened by three plagues: the plague of nationalism, the plague of racism and the plague of religious fundamentalism.** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — Book "Imperium", 1993.

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.