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The nation suffers with no sense of history. Its values remain superficial and ephemeral unless imbued with a deep sense of continuity and a perception of success and achievement that transcends acquisition of temporary power or transient wealth.

— Jacob Ade Ajayi

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Source and credibility

Wikiquote does not flag this quote as disputed or misattributed.

Source: Ajayi was discussing the importance of historical consciousness in Nigerian society and the consequences of a society that fails to understand its historical continuity.
Source quality: Source identified Names the work or year, but without an exact location.

More by Jacob Ade Ajayi

We lack statesmen with any sense of history. Politics of the moment dominates our life, leaving no room for evaluating achievement or appreciating merit.

History interacts with the nation.

We have so little consciousness of a time perspective. We act and react as if there is only today, no yesterday, no tomorrow.

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More quotes by Jacob Ade Ajayi

People of my generation learned how Britannia ruled the world.

Such a nation cannot achieve a sense of purpose or direction or stability, and without them the future is bleak.

For the nation is a product of history in the sense of historical circumstances and events; and therefore the nation cannot escape from its past.

We seem to care a little about the past, we have no enduring heroes and we respect no precedents.

The colonial intrusion was nothing more than an episode in the history of Africa.

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Jacob Ade Ajayi (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.