Mali Quotes

How bitter it is to reap a harvest of evil for good that you have done!
[Lat., Ut acerbum est, pro benefactis quom mali messem metas!] ~ Plautus

You want to know what I make? I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could. I can make a C+ feel like a Congressional Medal of Honor and an A-minus feel like a slap in the face. ~ Taylor Mali

Everything I do is kind of a lesson, even if I am the only person who learns it. ~ Taylor Mali

As I've learned in the past few years, Mali is home to some of the most incredible musicians in the world. ~ Nick Zinner

When students have thanked me in the past for being their teacher, I have always felt that it was actually my love for the art of teaching they were speaking to. ~ Taylor Mali

Here, let me break it down for you,
so you know what I say is true:
Teachers? Teachers make a difference!
Now what about you? ~ Taylor Mali

The only real grounds for attack which the expression of Armance's countenance could offer to her enemies was a singular look which she had at times when her mind was most detached. This fixed and profound gaze was one of extreme attention; there was nothing in it, certainly, that could shock the most severe delicacy; it suggested neither coquetry nor assurance; but no one could deny that it was singular, and, in that respect, out of place in a young person. Madame de Bonnivet's flatterers, when they were sure of being noticed, would sometimes imitate this look, in discussing Armance among themselves; but these vulgar spirits robbed it of an element that they had never thought of noticing. "It is with such eyes," Madame de Mali-vert said to them one day, out of patience with their malevolence, "that a pair of angels exiled among men and obliged to disguise themselves in mortal form, would gaze at one another in mutual recognition. ~ Stendhal

Simply put, the best teachers are the ones you work your tail off for because in the end you just don't want them to think any less of you. You want and need their approval. ~ Taylor Mali

And I want to tell her ... [that] changing your mind is one of the best ways of finding out whether or not you still have one. ~ Taylor Mali

We're the most aggressively inarticulate generation to come along since, you know, a long time ago! ~ Taylor Mali

A mother or father might be too preoccupied with how one child compares with another to be able to fully appreciate the uniqueness of the individual child. ~ Taylor Mali

We are a city that has had Islam for one thousand years. We had the greatest teachers and universities. And now these Bedouins, these illiterates, these ignoramuses, tell us how to wear our pants, and how to say our prayers, and how our wives should dress, as if they were the ones who invented the way? ~ Joshua Hammer

Education is the miracle; I'm just the worker. ~ Taylor Mali

By the time these students enter the workforce, many of the jobs they will apply for ill be in industries that don't even exist yet. That's a hard future to prepare someone for. Teachers have their sights set on the real goal: not to produce Ivy League graduates, but to encourage the development of naturally curious, confident, flexible, and happy learners who are ready for whatever the future has in store. ~ Taylor Mali

I never experimented with the hoddu like I wanted to do. Like on the song "Allah Addu," the hoddu and the voice is something that belongs to West African culture. When you go to the north of Mali, in the past it was just the singer and one instrument player. We never really did have that on our CDs. On some other songs, like "Laare Yoo," we have a whole section of hoddu, something like four of them playing together. ~ Baaba Maal

The shame of fools conceals their open wounds.
[Lat., Stultorum incurata malus pudor ulcera celat.] ~ Horace

Yes, our social and economic circumstances shape decisions we make about all sorts of things in life, including sex. Sometimes they rob us of the power to make any decisions at all. But of all human activity, sex is among the least likely to fit neatly into the blueprint of rational decision making favoured by economists. To quote my friend Claire in Istanbul, sex is about 'conquest, fantasy, projection, infatuation, mood, anger, vanity, love, pissing off your parents, the risk of getting caught, the pleasure of cuddling afterwards, the thrill of having a secret, feeling desirable, feeling like a man, feeling like a woman, bragging to your mates the next day, getting to see what someone looks like naked and a million-and-one-other-things.' When sex isn't fun, it is often lucrative, or part of a bargain which gives you access to something you want or need.

If HIV is spread by 'poverty and gender equality', how come countries that have plenty of both, such as Bangladesh, have virtually no HIV? How come South Africa and Botswana, which have the highest female literacy and per capita incomes in Africa, are awash with HIV, while countries that score low on both - such as Guinea, Somalia, Mali, and Sierra Leone - have epidemics that are negligible by comparison? How come in country after country across Africa itself, from Cameroon to Uganda to Zimbabwe and in a dozen other countries as well, HIV is lowest in the poorest households, and highest in the richest households? ~ Elizabeth Pisani

Read to your children all of the time
Novels and nursery rhymes
Autobiographies, even the newspaper
It doesn't mater; it's quality time
Because once upon a time
We grew up on stories in the voices in which they were told
We need words to hold us and the world to behold us
For us to truly know our souls ~ Taylor Mali

The best teachers that I had were always the ones I never wanted to disappoint. ~ Taylor Mali

It is not enough these days to simply QUESTION AUTHORITY. You have to speak with it, too. ~ Taylor Mali

Certainly teachers themselves can do a better job of letting the world know how hard their profession is, but frankly, they have real work to do and a lot of it, so they don't have a whole lot of free time on their hands. ~ Taylor Mali

We have oral traditions in Mali, and songs are passed down and around this way. I think in the US you can play all the time in your own room and never see another musician your whole life. We can't understand that in Mali. ~ Vieux Farka Toure

What we have seen with Islamist extremism, whether it is in Mali or Somalia or Afghanistan, is that the disease is not necessarily the individual country. The disease is the Islamist extremism, and that's what we have to fight; that's the narrative that we have to beat. ~ David Cameron

Because once upon a time, we grew up on stories and the voices in which they were told. We need words to hold us and the world to behold us for us to truly know our own souls. ~ Taylor Mali

Falling In Love Is Like Owning A Dog.
Throw things away and love will bring them back,
again, and again, and again.
But most of all, love needs love, lots of it.
And in return, love loves you and never stops. ~ Taylor Mali

For every African state, like Ghana, where democratic institutions seem secure, there is a Mali, a Cote d'Ivoire, and a Zimbabwe, where democracy is in trouble. ~ Michael Ignatieff

Falling in love is like owning a dog. ~ Taylor Mali

Suzy smiled and the whole class laughed at me, but when she spoke, I heard a new sound, not the song of an angel, but the words of a woman on a pedestal, coming down. ~ Taylor Mali

Courage in danger is half the battle. ~ Plautus

I was approached by Oxfam to go to Mali as their ambassador and get involved in their various initiatives out there. But I felt that was missing the point of using me, a musician. ~ Damon Albarn

Many people love my music. Many do not understand it. In general my music is more easily understood by younger people in Mali, and by people outside Africa. ~ Vieux Farka Toure

Great teachers will never be able to make up for bad parents, nor should they be expected to. ~ Taylor Mali

You see, I have a policy about honesty and ass-kicking, which is, if you ask for it, then I have to let you have it. ~ Taylor Mali

Say what you believe in a manner that bespeaks the determination with which you believe it. ~ Taylor Mali

Teachers today are breaking down obstacles, finding innovative ways to instill old lessons, proving that greatness can be found in everyday places. ~ Taylor Mali

After I wrapped 'Sons of Anarchy,' I traveled by myself for ten weeks. I started in Jordan and finished in Mali, in Timbuktu. ~ Henry Rollins

Teachers shouldn't make the mistake of always thinking they're the smartest person in the room ~ Taylor Mali

We need self-confidence in our ability to build Africa. I trust in Mali and I trust in music. ~ Rokia Traore

Frankly, we hesitate to pile on the data, since even when numbers are persuasive, they are not galvanizing. A growing collection of psychological studies show that statistics have a dulling effect, while it is individual stories that move people to act. In one experiment, research subjects were divided into several group, and each person was asked to donate $5 to alleviate hunger abroad. One group was told the money would go to Rokia, a seven-year-old girl in Mali. Another group was told that the money would go to address malnutrition among 21 million Africans. The third group was told that the donations would go to Roka, as in the first group, but this time her own hunger was presented as part of a background tapestry of global hunger, with some statistics thrown in. People were much more willing to donate to Rokia than to 21 million hungry people, and even a mention of the larger problem made people less inclined to help her. In another experiment, people were asked to donate to a $300,000 fund to fight cancer. One group was told that the money would be used to save the life of one child, while another group was told it would save the lives of eight children. People contributed almost twice as much to save one child as to save eight. Social psychologists argue that all this reflects the way our consciences and ethical systems are based on individual stories and are distinct from the parts of our brain concerned with logical and rationality. Indeed, when subjects in experime ~ Nicholas D. Kristof

Who can teach when there are such lessons to be learned ~ Taylor Mali

When I'm asked about the relevance to Black people of what I do, I take that as an affront. It presupposes that Black people have never been involved in exploring the heavens, but this is not so. Ancient African empires - Mali, Songhai, Egypt - had scientists, astronomers. The fact is that space and its resources belong to all of us, not to any one group. ~ Mae Jemison