David Livingstone open letter

by David Livingstone

My views of what is missionary duty are not so contracted as those whose ideal is a dumpy sort of man with a Bible under his arm.

I read the whole Bible through four times whilst I was in Manyuema. . . . The Bible gathers wonderful interest from the circumstances in which it is read.

It is something to be a follower, however feeble, in the wake of the great Teacher and only model missionary that ever appeared among men.

Forbid it that we should ever consider the holding of a commission from the King of Kings a sacrifice, so long as men esteem the service of an earthly sovereign an honour.

I still prefer poverty and mission-service to riches and ease. It's my choice.

The spirit of missions is the spirit of our Master; the very genius of his religion.

I am a missionary, heart and soul. God had an only Son, and He was a missionary and a physician. A poor, poor imitation I am or wish to be. In this service I hope to live, in it I wish to die.

I never made a sacrifice. Of this we ought not to talk when we remeber the great sacrifice which He made who left His Father's throne on high to give Himself for us.

A hard bed might be a greater sacrifice to one than sleeping on the ground to another.

I had a great objection to school-keeping, but I find in that, as in almost everything else that I set myself to as a matter of duty, I soon became enamoured of it.

Some of the brethren do not hesitate to tell the natives that my object is to obtain the applause of men. This bothers me, for I sometimes suspect my own motives.

On the other hand I am conscious that though there is much impurity in my motives, they are in the main for the glory of Him to whom I have dedicated my all.

Man is a complex being and we greatly need our motives to be purified from all that is evil.

I think you are not quite clear upon the indications of Providence, my dear brother. I don't think we ought to wait for them. Our duty is to go forward and look for the indications. In general I have observed that people who have sat long waiting have sat long enough before they saw any indication to go.

Cautious reverence is required in ascribing human movements to the influence of divine Providence.

We don't know how bad some people are until they are tried, nor how good others are till put to the test.

I like to hear that some abuse me now, and say that I am no Christian. Many good things were said of me which I did not deserve, and I feared to read them. I shall read every word I can on the other side and that will prove a sedative.

I have always found that the art of successful travel consisted in taking as few impedimenta as possible, and not forgetting to cany my wits about me.

We have neither sugar nor salt; it is hard fare and scanty. In the evening I shot a full-grown male nsevula. I felt very thankful to the Giver of all good for this meat.

I notice that the mongoose gets lean on a diet of cockroaches. This would be invaluable to fat young ladies at home.

The new-fangled coal-scuttle helmets serve chiefly for the frightening away of game when you want them to stand.

She had a profusion of iron rings on her ankles, to which were attached little pieces of sheet-iron, to enable her to make a tinkling as she walked in her mincing African style. The same thing is thought pretty by our own dragoons in walking jauntily.

The first smile of an infant with its toothless gums is one of the pleasantest sights in nature. It is innocence claiming kinship, and asking to be loved in its helplessness Nature is full of enjoyment.

I think I am in the line of duty ... I have never wavered in my conviction that this is the case.

I can be rich without money.

The day of Africa is yet to come.

A life of selfishness is one of misery.

Be manly Christians and never do a mean thing.

Depend upon it, a kind word or deed is never lost.

There is never a bad but it might have been worse.

Let us appear just what we are.

Never too old to learn.

There's a good time coming.

All will come right at last.