“It is only through peace that progress can be achieved. Closer understanding among nations is essential for fostering world harmony and the cause of peace in the world.
If the resources which are squandered on armaments were utilized for peaceful purposes, the gap between the rich and the poor within and among nations can indeed be drastically reduced and eventually eliminated.
Since the freedom and well-being of all peoples are indivisible, we should not work for groups, nor for races, but for the cause of all humanity. Every nation has a particular contribution to make to the well-being and welfare of the world community. The interests of humanity must therefore remain paramount.”
– HIM Haile Selassie I Ras Tafari, Important Utterances: 442.
“In the history of the human race, those periods which later appeared as great have been the periods when the men and the women belonging to them had transcended the differences that divided them and had recognized in their membership in the human race a common bond.”
-HIM Haile Selassie I Ras Tafari, Selected Speeches: 132, Important Utterances: 553.
“The tide which is sweeping Africa today cannot be stayed. No power on earth is great enough to halt or reverse the trend. Its march is as relentless and inexorable as the passage of time.
The day is long overdue for a change of attitude on the part of those nations which have heretofore sought to hinder or impede this movement or which have been content in the past to remain passive in the face of the impassioned cries for freedom, for justice, for the right to stand with their fellowmen as equals, which have gone up from this Continent. It is time for them to enlist their sympathetic efforts on behalf of the struggle of the African peoples to gain the place in the world which is their God-given birthright.
Those who fail or refuse to do so, those who lack the vision and foresight to realize that Africa is emerging into a new era, that Africans will no longer be denied the rights which are inalienably theirs, will not alter or reverse the course of history, but will only suffer the inevitable consequences of their refusal to accept reality.
What is there to be learned from the events now occurring on the African Continent? It must be recognized too, that Africa, its people, its present and its future, are of vital concern to everyone, no matter how far removed geographically.”
– HIM Emperor Haile Selassie I JAH Ras Tafari, Selected Speeches: 205.
“Ethiopia today does not and cannot exist alone. Do not fall into the narrowness which looks only to the borders of your nation; Ethiopia is today in and of the world, and we must move ahead in concert with all mankind.”
– HIM Emperor Haile Selassie I JAH Ras Tafari, Important Utterances: 83.
“Above all, Ethiopia is dedicated to the principle of the equality of all men, irrespective of differences of race, color or creed. As we do not practice or permit discrimination within our nation, so we oppose it wherever it is found. As we guarantee to each the right to worship as he chooses, so we denounce the policy which sets man against man on issues of religion. As we extend the hand of universal brotherhood to all, without regard to race or color, so we condemn any social or political order which distinguishes among God’s children on this most specious of grounds.”
– HIM Emperor Haile Selassie I JAH Ras Tafari, Important Utterances: 108.
“With raising all men to their rightful dignity and honour as individuals, they will be able to regard their fellows, of whatever nation, of whatever race, of whatever religious, linguistic or historical tradition, as equals, without jealousy, without fear, without undue pride.”
– HIM Emperor Haile Selassie I JAH Ras Tafari, Selected Speeches: 128.
“We must become members of a new race, overcoming petty prejudice, owing our ultimate allegiance not to nations but to our fellow men within the human community.”
– HIM Emperor Haile Selassie I JAH Ras Tafari, Selected Speeches: 378.
“I must say that black and white, as forms of speech, and as a means of judging mankind, should be eliminated from human society. Human beings are precisely the same whatever colour, race, creed or national origin they may be.”
– HIM Emperor Haile Selassie I JAH Ras Tafari, NBC Meet the Press, USA 1963.
“God has not been partial in His divine creation. The difference of colour is a notion which has no significance and the futility of asserting a difference has now become obvious.”
– HIM Emperor Haile Selassie I JAH Ras Tafari, Selected Speeches: 96.
“This world was not created piecemeal. Africa was born no later and no earlier than any other geographical area on this globe. Africans, no more and no less than other men, possess all human attributes, talents and deficiencies, virtues and faults.”
– HIM Emperor Haile Selassie I JAH Ras Tafari, Important Utterances: 348; Selected Speeches: 242.
“But we also know that unity can be and has been attained among men of the most disparate origins, that differences of race, of religion, of culture, of tradition, are no insuperable obstacle to the coming together of peoples.”
– HIM Emperor Haile Selassie I JAH Ras Tafari, Selected Speeches: 245.
“We in Ethiopia have one of the oldest versions of the Bible, but however old the version may be, in whatever language it might be written, it remains one and the same. It transcends all boundaries of empires and all conceptions of race. It is eternal. […]
Today man sees all his hopes and aspirations crumbling before him. He is perplexed and knows not whither he is drifting. But he must realise that the Bible is his refuge, and the rallying point for all humanity. In it man will find the solution of his present difficulties and guidance for his future action, and unless he accepts with clear conscience the Bible and its great Message, he cannot hope for salvation. For my part I glory in the Bible.”
– His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I JAH Ras Tafari quoted in the Christian Truth Magazine, Volume 23 (1970), pages 328f.
“The Bible say when Christ return, He will return in his kingly character. So we don’t need to translate the Bible, cause the Bible state it. And what’s so nice about it is that the white man have to accept the truth of what is written in the Bible, because his King James said, ‘Yes, this Bible can go out.’ Even the white man cannot [deny] that Ras Tafari is God.”
– Bob Marley interviewed by Glenn O’Brien, 1978.
“The Bible has seen many attacks, even subjugation and limitation by the very Catholic Church itself, and the Vatican, and the Pope. Remember, you couldn’t have possession of the Scriptures even as a European! And it was only written in Latin, where many of the very Europeans themselves couldn’t understand that.
It has been a book that has been prevented from the so-called common folk, because within it a one will find hope for salvation. For, ‘Weep not! Behold, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the book and lose the seven seals thereof!’”
“Remember, even in Europe itself, the domination, when it came to Christendom, was under the tyranny of the Holy Roman Empire. So, whether you were French, German, a Spaniard, Portuguese, you were all under the jurisdiction of the Pope of Rome.
And there was not a Scripture or Bible written in languages for the Europeans to understand. It was only Latin, and if you didn’t speak Latin, you could not Iverstand Scripture. Because if you were able to read Scripture for the I self, that personal relationship with the I and the Almighty will let you see that many of these priests and bishops and so are frauds.”
“The Pope who sanctioned slavery did so with his authority that he claimed he get from God. And because you can’t read the Scripture for yourself, he tell you say that the Scripture declare it. There was a European by the name of William Tynsdale, who translated the Bible from Latin into English by hand – a white European – and he was captured and burned at the stake alive for doing that.”
– Ras Jeremiah, Nyahbinghi House Brooklyn, interviewed by Ily Culcha, 2022.
“The Rastafarian community internationally is calling on all people irrespective of color, race or creed to accept Christ for what He was and is and do not subordinate or submit themselves to a false portrayal.”
– Ras Ivi Tafari at the 1997 International Rastafari Gathering in Guyana.
“‘I told them of His crucifixion and of His ascension, and that, as Ethiopian sons and daughters, we would enjoy in the near future His Kingdom [since] the Messiah in the person of Ras Tafari came back in this world. That his Kingdom shall have no end – a kingdom that all kings of the earth had to bow down to as he was the only king in the world to-day as an ancient king. […] I told the people,’ Howell proceeded, ‘that the same God had come back on earth to lead mankind in the path of righteousness.’ […] Love and equality, he also told them, would reign on earth when their King started to reign.”
– Ancient Leonard Howell in the Jamaica Daily Gleaner, 15 March 1934, page 20.
“We found out that all the powers of Europe and Asia went to the coronation and adored him: that he is the Son of God to govern all mankind.”
– Robert Hinds quoted in the Jamaica Daily Gleaner, 17 March 1934, page 6.
“We all believe that Haile Selassie, as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, shall in time take up his righteous reign for his people Israel, wherein all oppressors shall melt into the ocean of forgetfulness where they can be seen no more. We living members of the Ethiopian Society in the British Empire shall serve Haile Selassie to the end, and all well-thinking men and women, regardless of colour and creed, should do likewise.”
– Leonard Howell quoted in the Jamaica Daily Gleaner, 23 November 1940, page 26.
“Religion tells us that He comes from heaven, but heaven is King David’s royal throne. He is the Father of all nations, unto whom the world must now obey.”
– Howellite Chant, “We are Marching On to Victory”.
“We hail to our God and our King, Humanity is pleading: One God for us all!”
– The Iniversal Ethiopian Anthem.
“We are a divine people which kept up a divine Theocracy Government throughout the earth, and that government should be from Cape to Cairo, every man should bow and stand up within such government, for it is the right government. And this government, which will be set upon creation, is ruled by the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah.”
– Bongo Purro in an undated clip, probably from the 1970s.
“Within the kingdom of God all people throughout the entire earth have to come to one conclusion: that he is the Almighty God who rule earth and heaven, Rastafari.”
– Bongo Purro quoted in Dread: The Rastafarians of Jamaica, page 112.
“God came to set the captive free throughout the entire earth. And all who know he is the high Rastafari, then they too shall have access to the tree of life, regardless of what nation, what nationality, what tongue they may be.”
– Bongo Purro quoted in Dread: The Rastafarians of Jamaica, page 172.
“And there is no condemnation to anyone who call upon the name of the Lord. For this is the day when JAH Ras Tafari come to bring all nations, all people, together, all nations in one! And that’s why I sing this song, say: the Church is one foundation through Negus Christ our Lord. It come to bring all of us in one, whether you are black, white, pink, yellow, brown, or blue!”
– Ras Pidow interviewed by Rich Lowe at WRUW FM, 1995.
“He is coming for those that fear Him, those that praise Him, those that work righteousness. So that His name shall be one! ‘And whosoever that is called by my name, thou art my people, thou art the righteous ones! So, any nation arise and decide to worship the Almighty in the beauty of His Holiness, you are my people!’ […] If we but continue in this manner, from this time there will be no enemy upon the creation. For the kings, all the kings of the earth, shall glorify Him. All the kings of the earth shall bring presents unto Him. All nations shall call Him blessed. Blessed be the name of the living I, Haile I Selassie I!”
– Ras Boanerges / Bongo Watto speaking at Elsie’s River, Cape Town, South Africa, 1996.
“We must not limit the power of Ras Tafari! And when we think of Ras Tafari, we mustn’t think of Him in Ethiopia alone. Because if God only control Ethiopia, what would happen to us in America? What would happen to the people in England? How would we be able to breath fresh air all around the world? Ras Tafari is everywhere, because God is a international God! So, we want you to understand the cause of the Rastafarian, that we are here to make the world a better place.”
– Baba Ras Marcus, Rastafari Elders LP.
“H.I.M come and tell us seh that elect of every nation shall praise him and right now InI as Rasta know this faith is in every nation, seen. Every nation in a Rasta now, some true some is not, but as him seh, make the wheat and the tares grow, till the day of harvest. […] The seed was planted and InI see the fruits of it today, round and about people reaping the seed that InI did plant out there, His Imperial Majesty as the Almighty. So it realized now through people, for every nation now, one time it was a black house thing, but today when yu check it we see people of every nation trod forward to this reality. For this reality of truth and right must win.”
– Incient Testimony of Bongo Tawney, Wisemind Publications, pages 20, 26.
“The path of Ras Tafari is Righteous all together, and ALL Nations will eventually accept (bow) to that reality, if only to save themselves from annihilation […] fulfilling the expectations of our Ancients who declared, ‘every goody (body) ought to know who Ras Tafari is’.”
– Ras Wayne Rose, former President of the Iniversal Development of Rastafari (IDOR), Members of a New Race – Whatever happened to the Ras Tafari Chant: All Nations have to Bow, 2018.