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Quotes of Cecil Rhodes
Cecil John Rhodes, PC, DCL, (July 5, 1853 – March 26, 1902) was a British-born South African businessman, mining magnate, and politician. He was the founder of the diamond company De Beers, which today controls 60% of the world's diamonds and at one time controlled 90% of the world's diamonds. He was an ardent believer in colonialism and was the coloniser of the state of Rhodesia, which was named after him. Rhodesia (later Northern and Southern Rhodesia) eventually became Zambia and Zimbabwe respectively. He was born in Bishop's Stortford in Hertfordshire.
- I have found out one thing and that is, if you have an idea, and it is a good idea, if you only stick to it you will come out all right.
- Remember that you are an Englishman, and have consequently won first prize in the lottery of life.
- So little done, so much to do.
- The real fact is that I could no longer stand their eternal cold mutton.
- We must find new lands from which we can easily obtain raw materials and at the same time exploit the cheap slave labor that is available from the natives of the colonies. The colonies would also provide a dumping ground for the surplus goods produced in our factories.
Although Rhodes remained a leading figure in the politics of southern Africa, especially during the Second Boer War, he was dogged by ill health throughout his relatively short life. Rhodes died in 1902, and was considered at the time one of the wealthiest men in the world.
In his first will (before he had any real money), Rhodes wanted to create a secret society that would bring the whole world under British rule. The exact words are as follows: " To and for the establishment, promotion and development of a Secret Society, the true aim and object whereof shall be for the extension of British rule throughout the world, the perfecting of a system of emigration from the United Kingdom, and of colonisation by British subjects of all lands where the means of livelihood are attainable by energy, labour and enterprise, and especially the occupation by British settlers of the entire Continent of Africa, the Holy Land, the Valley of the Euphrates, the Islands of Cyprus and Candia, the whole of South America, the Islands of the Pacific not heretofore possessed by Great Britain, the whole of the Malay Archipelago, the seaboard of China and Japan, the ultimate recovery of the United States of America as an integral part of the British Empire, the inauguration of a system of Colonial representation in the Imperial Parliament which may tend to weld together the disjointed members of the Empire and, finally, the foundation of so great a Power as to render wars impossible, and promote the best interests of humanity."