Great quotes about Ethiopia and her people
by some famous and wise people around the world

 The origin of Ethiopia is largely the origin of us all.
  Javier Gozalbez

On the question of racial discrimination, the Addis Ababa Conference taught, to those who will learn, this further lesson: That until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned: That until there are no longer first-class and second class citizens of any nation; That until the color of a man's skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes; That until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race; That until that day, the dream of lasting peace and world citizenship and the rule of international morality will remain but a fleeting illusion, to be pursued but never attained; And until the ignoble and unhappy regimes that hold our brothers in Angola, in Mozambique and in South Africa in subhuman bondage have been toppled and destroyed; Until bigotry and prejudice and malicious and inhuman self-interest have been replaced by understanding and tolerance and good-will; Until all Africans stand and speak as free beings, equal in the eyes of all men, as they are in the eyes of Heaven; Until that day, the African continent will not know peace. We Africans will fight, if necessary, and we know that we shall win, as we are confident in the victory of good over evil.
  Emperor Haile Selassie

Ethiopia 's ancient culture reflects Animist, Judaic, Byzantine, Christian and Islamic heritages. One of its notable qualities is its calendar.  
  Nita Bhalla

Ethiopia has always held a special place in my own imagination and the prospect of visiting [it] attracted me more strongly than a trip to France, England and America combined. I felt I would be visiting my own genesis, unearthing the roosts of what made me an African. Meeting the emperor himself would be like shaking hands with history.
  Nelson Mandela

It has always been the wish of Bob Marley to return to Ethiopia and become a Rastafarian... and with the African Union, Addis Ababa is the capital of Africa and therefore a very symbolic place.
  Rita Marley, Bob Marley’s widow

For me the circle was closed at this point, and closed in an utterly convincing manner. On the one hand, I had a country - Ethiopia - the only country in the world claiming to possess the Arc of the Covenant and with a living tradition of worship of the Arc of the Covenant. On the other hand, a viable, understandable, sensible historical process that left legend and mysteries behind and gave historical explanation for how and when and why the Arc of the Covenant had gone to Ethiopia . These two things mesh together and close the circle fitting perfectly. I have no doubt at all that the Arc of the Covenant is in the sanctuary chapel in Axum and I have no doubt at all that I have established how it got there.
  Graham Hancock

I knew that the English regarded themselves as civilized, but it seemed to me that in many ways Ethiopia was a far more civilized place.
  Dr. Catherine Hamlin

Even a poor Ethiopian family with hardly enough to eat will graciously offer a visitor coffee or fruit.
  Elizabeth Berg

I traveled throughout Ethiopia, a heaven-blessed land of natural beauty and potential abundance, meeting Ethiopians from all walks of life. I encountered a fascinating culture and a handsome people whose intelligent and courteous ways were beguiling.
  Theodore M. Vestal

It was home to the most ancient kingdom in Africa , one of the first monarchies in the world. It is the sole African country to posses an alphabet more than 2000 years old. It is the only country on the continent to have maintained its independence in the face of European colonizers. This is Ethiopia.
  Javier Gozalbez

Two words are key to understanding Ethiopian cuisine: hot and spicy.
  Steven Gish

A persistent belief in Ethiopia that Ethiopians are the chosen people of God stems from a long-held creation legend. According to this legend, God molded the first humans from clay. He put the first batch in an oven to bake, but left them there too long, and they emerged burned and black, so he threw them away to the southern part of Africa. He took the second batch from the oven too soon, and they were pasty and white, so he threw them northward, where they became the Arab and European populations. The third and final batch was just right, and God put them in Ethiopia.
  Dorinda Hafner

Ethiopia confounds every expectation. You arrive expecting a vast featureless desert and instead find yourself overwhelmed by majestic landscapes and climatic abundance. You expect a land which has been ravaged to the point of ruin by years of civil war, and instead you find close to the best civil amenities in Africa and almost no obvious signs that a war ever took place. You arrive expecting to see human degradation and abject poverty, and instead find yourself immersed in a culture besotted which itself and its history, and marked by a sense of unforced pride that is positively infectious.
  Philip Briggs


…with the new millennium beginning, the ancient land of Ethiopia could just be in line for worldly rehabilitation.
  Francis Falceto

Though poor materially, Ethiopia boasts extraordinary cultural, historical and natural wealth. In historical terms, it has the longest archaeological record of any country on Earth, in religious terms, it was the first country in the West after Armenia to adopt Christianity, in natural terms, it boasts an exceptional number of endemic species and more birds than any other African country except South Africa. 
  Frances Linzee Gordon

This is my hometown, it is my land, and I don't think anything is better than my country. The Netherlands is nice but it doesn't look like Ethiopia. I want to stay here forever. It doesn't matter that the people are poor. When you love something, you have to love the thing when there are problems or no problems. I don't want to leave my country when it has problems. Why? Because this is also a kind of gift for Ethiopia. And I have to accept this gift.
  Haile Gebreselassie

Contrary to western myth, the elevated central plateau which covers half of Ethiopia 's surface area that supports the large majority population is quite possibly the most extensive contiguous area of fertile land in the eastern land of Africa.
  Philip Briggs

The Ethiopians, despite their current difficulties, can look forward to the future with confidence. There is every hope that their age-old country, which maintained its independence throughout the era of the "Scramble for Africa ", will be able to overcome the present-day problems of poverty and economic under-development, and it will rank in the twenty-first century as one of the greatest and most honored of African states.
  Professor Richard Pankhurst

One generalization that can be made about Ethiopian society is that the family is all-important. It is the basic social and economic unit of the nation, regardless of religion or ethnic group.
  Steven Gish

It is not surprising that a country where travel by land is so difficult has one of the most successful airlines in Africa . A big network of internal flights can cover distance in two hours that take days by bus and weeks on foot.
  Angela Grunsell