Andrew Mango

“I have no religion, and at times I wish all religions at the bottom of the sea. He is a weak ruler who needs religion to uphold his government; it is as if he would catch his people in a trap. My people are going to learn the principles of democracy, the dictates of truth and the teachings of science. Superstition must go. Let them worship as they will; every man can follow his own conscience, provided it does not interfere with sane reason or bid him act against the liberty of his fellow-men.”
― Andrew Mango, Atatürk: The Biography of the Founder of Modern Turkey

“If I ever acquire great authority and power, I think that I would introduce at a single stroke the transformation needed in our social life. I do not accept and my spirit revolts at the idea entertained in some quarters that this can be done [only] gradually by getting the common people and the ulema to think at my level. After spending so many years acquiring higher education, enquiring into civilized social life and getting a taste for freedom, why should I descend to the level of common people? Rather, I should raise them to my level. They should become like me, not I like them. Nevertheless, there are some points here which should be gone into. It would be wrong to make a start before deciding them.”
― Andrew Mango, Atatürk: The Biography of the Founder of Modern Turkey