68+ Most Famous Thomas Sankara Quotes on Socialism and Revolution

Thomas Sankara was a revolutionary leader in Burkina Faso who served as the country’s president from 1983 to 1987. He was assassinated in 1987, but his legacy continues to inspire people worldwide.

This article has a collection of some of the most famous Thomas Sankara quotes. Carefully go through them!

About Thomas Sankara

From his coup in 1983 until his removal and murder in 1987, Thomas Isidore Nol Sankara, a Burkinabé military officer, Marxist revolutionary, and pan-Africanist, presided over Burkina Faso.

He is frequently referred to as “Africa’s Che Guevara” by his admirers, who see him as a charismatic and iconic figure of revolution.

Sankara was imprisoned due to disagreements with the current government after being chosen prime minister in 1983.

Later that year, while he was still under house arrest, a group of revolutionaries staged a popular coup to take over the government on his behalf.

Sankara assumed the presidency of the Republic of Upper Volta at the age of 33. He started initiatives for social, ecological, and economic transformation right away, renaming Upper Volta, the nation’s former French colonial name, to Burkina Faso and giving its citizens the moniker Burkinabé.

Thomas Sankara Quotes About Socialism

1. “I want people to remember me as someone whose life has been helpful to humanity.” -Thomas Sankara.

2. “You cannot carry out fundamental change without a certain amount of madness.” -Thomas Sankara.

3. “Without patriotic political education, a soldier is only a potential criminal.” -Thomas Sankara.

3. “May my eyes never see and my feet never take me to a society where half the people are held in silence.” -Thomas Sankara.

4. “Never be shamed of being Afrikan.” -Thomas Sankara.

5. “No altar, no belief, no holy book have ever been able to reconcile the rich and the poor, the exploiter and the exploited. And Jesus himself had taken the whip to chase them from his temple. It is indeed because that is the only language they hear.” – Thomas Sankara.

6. “Imperialism often occurs in more subtle forms, a loan, food aid, blackmail. We are fighting this system that allows a handful of men on Earth to rule all of humanity.” -Thomas Sankara.

7. “No altar, no belief, no holy book have ever been able to reconcile the rich and the poor, the exploiter and the exploited. And Jesus himself had taken the whip to chase them from his temple. It is indeed because that is the only language they hear.” – Thomas Sankara.

Thomas Sankara Quotes About Revolution

Below are some of the revolutionary Thomas Sankara quotes:

8. “If we do not pay, lender will not die; if we pay we will die. we cannot pay and we don’t want to pay.” -Thomas Sankara.

9. “The Revolution and women’s liberation go together we don’t talk women’s emancipation as an act of charity or because of surge of human compassion.” -Thomas Sankara.

10. “The enemies of a people are those who keep them in ignorance.” -Thomas Sankara.

11. “We must learn to live the African way. It’s the only way to live in freedom and with dignity.” -Thomas Sankara.

12. “Everything that man can imagine, he is capable of creating.”-Thomas Sankara.

13. “A military without political training is a potential criminal.” -Thomas Sankara.

14. “We are not against progress, but we do not want progress that is anarchic and criminally neglects the rights of others.” -Thomas Sankara.

15. “We must dare to invent the future.” -Thomas Sankara.

16. “The spirit is smothered, as it were, by ignorance, but so soon as ignorance is destroyed, spirit shine forth, like the sun when released from clouds.” -Thomas Sankara.

17. “Debt is a cleverly managed reconquest of Africa. It is a reconquest that turns each one of us into a financial slave.” -Thomas Sankara.

18. “While revolutionaries as individuals can be murdered, you cannot kill ideas.” -Thomas Sankara.

19. “A soldier without political education is a potential criminal.” – Thomas Sankara.

20. “The French revolution taught us the rights of man.”
-Thomas Sankara.

21. “Let there be an end to the arrogance of the big powers who miss no opportunity to put the rights of the people in question. Africa’s absence from the club of those who have the right to veto is unjust and should be ended. ” -Thomas Sankara.

22. “He who feeds you controls you.” -Thomas Sankara.

23. “It took the madmen of yesterday for us to be able to act with extreme clarity today. I want to be one of those madmen. We must dare to invent the future.” -Thomas Sankara.

24. “When people stand up, imperialism trembles.” -Thomas Sankara.

25. “We make every effort to see that our actions live up to our words and be vigilant with regard to our behavior.” -Thomas Sankara.

26. “Our revolution in Burkina Faso draws on the totality of man’s experiences since the first breath of humanity. We wish to be the heirs of all the revolutions of the world, of all the liberation struggles of the peoples of the Third World.” -Thomas Sankara.

27. “We have to work at decolonizing our mentality and achieving happiness within the limits of sacrifice we should be willing to make.” – Thomas Sankara.

28. “We have to recondition our people to accept themselves as they are, not to be ashamed of their real situation, to be satisfied with it, to glory in it, even.” Thomas Sankara.

29. “He who does not feed you can demand nothing of you.” – Thomas Sankara.

30. “Under its current form, that is imperialism-controlled, debt is a cleverly managed re-conquest of Africa, aiming at subjugating its growth and development through foreign rules. Thus, each one of us becomes the financial slave a true slave.” – Thomas Sankara.

31. “Inequality can be done away with only by establishing a new society, where men and women will enjoy equal rights.” – Thomas Sankara

32. “Our country produces enough to feed us all. Alas, for lack of organization, we are forced to beg for food aid. It’s this aid that instills in our spirits the attitude of beggars. ” – Thomas Sankara

33. “I Can Hear the Roar of Women’s Silence.” ― Thomas Sankara.

34. “Women hold up the other half of the sky.” ― Thomas Sankara.

35. “Comrades! There is no true social revolution without the liberation of women.” ― Thomas Sankara.

36. “The condition of women is therefore at the heart of the question of humanity itself, here, there, and everywhere.” ― Thomas Sankara,

37. “By changing the social order that oppresses women, the revolution creates the conditions for their genuine emancipation.” -Thomas Sankara.

38. “The only difference between the woman who sells her body through prostitution and a woman who sells herself in marriage is the price and duration of the contract.” ― Thomas Sankara

39. “The revolution and women’s liberation go together. We do not talk of women’s emancipation as an act of charity or because of a surge of human compassion. It is a basic necessity for the triumph of the revolution.” – Thomas Sankara.

40. “The revolution cannot triumph without the emancipation of women.” – Thomas Sankara.

41. “The woman leads a twofold existence indeed, the depth of her social ostracism being equally only by her stoic endurance.” ― Thomas Sankara.

42. “Paternal right replaced maternal right. Property was now handed down from father to son, rather than as before from the woman to her clan. The patriarchal family made its appearance, founded on the sole and personal property of the father, who had become head of the family. Within this family the woman was oppressed.”

43. “We must dare to invent the future” — Thomas Sankara

44. “May my eyes never see and my feet never take me to a society where half the people are held in silence.” Thomas Sankara

45. “Under its current form, that is imperialism-controlled, debt is a cleverly managed re-conquest of Africa, aiming at subjugating its growth and development through foreign rules. Thus, each one of us becomes the financial slave a true slave…” – Thomas Sankara

46. “Never be shamed of being Afrikan” – Thomas Sankara

47. “Comrades, there is no true social revolution without the liberation of women. May my eyes never see and my feet never take me to a society where half the people are held in silence. I hear the roar of women silence. I sense the rumble of their storm and feel the fury of their revolt.” — Thomas Sankara

48. “I want people to remember me as someone whose life has been helpful to humanity.” — Thomas Sankara

49. “He who does not feed you can demand nothing of you,” — Thomas Sankara

50. “Without patriotic political education, a soldier is only a potential criminal.” — Thomas Sankara

51. “Everything that man can imagine, he is capable of creating,” – Thomas Sankara

52. “A military without political training is a potential criminal.” – Thomas Sankara

53. “You cannot carry out fundamental change without a certain amount of madness.” – Thomas Sankara

54. “It took the madmen of yesterday for us to be able to act with extreme clarity today. I want to be one of those madmen. We must dare to invent the future.” – Thomas Sankara

55. “We try to see that our actions live up to our words and be vigilant regarding our behavior.” – Thomas Sankara

56. “Debt is a cleverly managed reconquest of Africa” – Thomas Sankara

57. “It’s really a pity that there are observers who view political events like comic strips. There has to be a Zorro, there has to be a star. No, the problem of Upper Volta is more serious than that. It was a grave mistake to have looked for a man, a star, at all costs, to the point of creating one, that is, to the point of attributing the ownership of the event to captain Sankara, who must have been the brains, etc.” – Thomas Sankara

58. “Women hold up the other half of the sky …” – Thomas Sankara

59. “We must learn to live the African way. It’s the only way to live in freedom and with dignity” – Thomas Sankara

60. “Our revolution in Burkina Faso draws on the totality of mans experiences since the first breath of humanity. We wish to be the heirs of all the revolutions of the world, of all the liberation struggles of the peoples of the Third World. We draw the lessons of the American revolution.” – Thomas Sankara

61. “The enemies of a people are those who keep them in ignorance.” – Thomas Sankara

62. “Inequality can be done away with only by establishing a new society, where men and women will enjoy equal rights, resulting from an upheaval in the means of production and in all social relations. Thus, the status of women will improve only with the elimination of the system that exploits them.” – Thomas Sankara

63. “You cannot carry out fundamental change without a certain amount of madness. In this case, it comes from nonconformity, the courage to turn your back on the old formulas, the courage to invent the future. It took the madmen of yesterday for us to be able to act with extreme clarity today. I want to be one of those madmen. We must dare to invent the future.” – Thomas Sankara

64. “He who feeds you, controls you” – Thomas Sankara

65. “Imperialism is a system of exploitation that occurs not only in the brutal form of those who come with guns to conquer territory. Imperialism often occurs in more subtle forms, a loan, food aid, blackmail . We are fighting this system that allows a handful of men on earth to rule all of humanity.” – Thomas Sankara

66. “While revolutionaries as individuals can be murdered, you cannot kill ideas.” – Thomas Sankara

67. “The greatest difficulty we have faced is the neocolonial way of thinking that exists in this country. We were colonized by a country, France, that left us with certain habits. For us, being successful in life, being happy, meant trying to live as they do in France, like the richest of the French.” – Thomas Sankara

68. “Che Guevara taught us we could dare to have confidence in ourselves; confidence in our abilities. He instilled in us the conviction that struggle is our only recourse. He, was a citizen of the free world that together we are in the process of building. That is why we say that Che Guevara is also African and Burkinabe.” — Thomas Sankara

Conclusion

Thomas Sankara was an incredible leader; his quotes show his wisdom and charisma. He was a man ahead of his time, and his vision for Africa is still relevant today. His words inspire people to be better leaders and to fight for what is right.

You can also check out: 100 Inspiring You Deserve The Best Quotes

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