Albania

Albania (Albanian: Shqipëri/Shqipëria; Gheg Albanian: Shqipnia) is a country in southern Europe.

Quotes

Alphabetized by author

The U.S. and British imperialists have accused us Albanians of being "savage and warlike". This is understandable, for the Albanian people have dealt telling blows at their repeated attempts to put us under bondage and have smashed the heads of their agents who conspired against the Party of Labor of Albania and our regime of people's democracy. Tito's gang, that of the Greek monarcho-fascist chauvinists, the rulers in Rome have accused and accuse us of being "warmongers and disturbers of the peace in the Balkans", because, without hesitation, we have always, and will always hit them hard, for their intentions have been, remain, and will always be to chop up Albania among themselves, to enslave our people.
- Enver Hoxha, Reject the Revisionist Theses of the XX Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Anti-Marxist Stand of Krushchev's Group! Uphold Marxism-Leninism!, Speech Delivered by Enver Hoxha as Head of the Delegation of the Party of Labor of Albania Before the Meeting of 81 Communist and Workers Parties, Moscow, 16 November, 1960

The Albanians have hacked their way through history, sword in hand.
- Enver Hoxha, as quoted in Peter R. Prifti (1978), Socialist Albania since 1944: Domestic and Foreign developments, page 9

The Albanian culture is elusive to me. I think this has to do with leaving the country at such an early age, as well as the country rediscovering her roots after many decades of repression. What I can say about the Albanian culture is what runs through my limbs and what carries my philosophy in life. There’s a condensed softness about the Albanian people, and I’ve witnessed examples of their hospitality that have been famously engraved in history for centuries. Maybe I’m soaking memories of my homeland in sentimental syrup that grows thicker and sweeter with time, but there is something truly noble about the Albanian people and their culture of purity and keeping promises.
- Masiela Lusha, as quoted in REEL Lady: Masiela Lusha, (September 1, 2008)

I don't know what to say since I don't know what is happening there. I can say only one thing. My Albanian people are always in my heart. I pray very much to our Lord that His peace may come to our hearts, in our families and in all the world. I pray for Albania, that the Lord may help its leaders to see clearly because if they want to live in peace, they should love one another.
- Mother Teresa, as quoted in Louis Zanga "Mother Teresa's visit to Albania", Radio Free Europe Research, (23 August 1989)

Morn dawns: and with it stern Albania's hills...
Robed half in mist, bedewed with snowy rills.
- Lord Byron (1810), Childe Harold

I like the Albanians much; they are not all Turks; some tribes are Christians. But their religion makes little difference in their manner or conduct. They are esteemed the best troops in the Turkish service.
- Lord Byron (1830), Letters and Journals of Lord Byron, page 161

They are strewn with the wreckage of dead Empires – past Powers – only the Albanian "goes on for ever."
- Edith Durham (1909), High Albania, page 12

[Albania] is a country within sight of Italy, which is less known than the interior of America.
- Edward Gibbon, as quoted by Faik Konitza (ca. 1960), Albania: The Rock Garden of Europe, page 12

A few days after our arrival in this village, Spiro Milio presented himself to Mavrocordato, with a corps of two hundred picked Chimariots, the most martial-looking men in the whole army. They are not to be distinguished from Albanians, their dress and language being perfectly similar; but though their religion is Greek, they do not understand one syllable of Greek.
- J.Millingen (1831), Memoirs of the affairs of Greece, pages 208-209

Albania [is] a ridiculous country anyway that ought to be partitioned as soon as possible between Greece and Yugoslavia.
- Malcolm Muggeridge, as quoted by Nicholas Bethell (1984), The Great Betrayal

The men who marched to Babylon, Persia and India were the ancestors of the Albanians...
- Wadham Peacock (1913), The Wild Albanian

It is very important to send a new signal of confidence and hope that this (Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo) accession (into the European Union) process is wanted by the EU (European Union) with great seriousness, and that it also has a realistic chance if everyone makes an effort.
- Olaf Scholz, cited in: "Scholz backs giving chance to Western Balkans on EU membership" in Aljazeera, 10 June 2022.

[The Albanians] seem to be rather backward and primitive people... they can be as faithful as a dog; that is one of the traits of the primitive. Our Chuvash were the same. The Russian tsars always used them for their bodyguards.
- Joseph Stalin (1947), as quoted in Vladimit Dedjer (1954), Tito Speaks, page 312