Baba Dioum’s Quote

I am driven to accurately research original sources for the quotes used in my works, and I have several many items in my library that are particularly obscure, hard-to-find materials.

The following is the quote represented in the form that is typically associated with Baba Dioum (on the internet and so on):

In the end we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand; and we will understand only what we are taught.

While the citation associated with this form of the quote lists the proceedings from the 1968 meeting of the IUCN in New Delhi, the fact of the matter is that (a) the IUCN itself says that the cited document was never actually published (see their Notes about Vol 1), and (b) while the Seattle Public Library is said (in the citation) to be the holder of that document, a research librarian at the SPL told me that they do not have any such item in their collection (and also noted the IUCN’s denial of publication).

SO…

The quote that I have used is from Dioum’s own record of his own words in his memoir, which he first gives in English (which is the quote used on this site) and then he translates that phrase into French as:

«on ne préserve que ce que l’on aime, mais on n’aime que ce qu’on connaît, et on ne connaît que ce qu’on vous a appris.»

Bringing that back to English, I get this wording:

We only preserve what we love, but we only love what we know, and we only know what we have been taught.

I know written French well enough to corroborate that sense of the quote for the meaning of the words as he has given them. The thing about “what we have taught” versus “what we have been taught” seems like it could just be chalked up to someone juggling multiple languages, and Dioum clearly seems to have been content with the popular phrasing (given what he says below).

He does make it readily apparent in his book that he spoke these words at the IUCN assembly in New Delhi in 1968, and goes on to say the following (with my apologies for any faults in my translation):

“When I finished reciting that sentence, I saw an audience of over 2,000 people, including Mrs. Indira Gandhi, rise to their feet and applaud. I couldn't see because of the flashes from the photographers and television cameras. As I stepped down from the stage, I was completely disoriented. I felt like I was floating on a cloud. I wondered what I could have possibly said to deserve such an ovation. I kept asking myself, "But Baba Dioum, what could you have said to trigger such a roar, to make everyone rise to their feet, to receive such an ovation?"

My words hit home. And the simultaneous interpreter, Philippe de Klem, who was also interpreting for De Gaulle at the same time, and whom I knew from the conservation community, had rendered it so well in English that the sentence went viral. Today, there are classrooms, zoos, and forest parks named after me, and this quote is published everywhere, including online. T-shirts are printed with it. Before President Bush at the White House, during a ceremony reserved for literary figures, this quote served as a powerful statement to reinforce his remarks.

I often receive letters from every continent asking for permission to use this quote. Everyone is discussing me. I've been compared to a poet, a philosopher, and many other luminaries.

Sometimes, I'm mistaken for an Indian tribal chief because this phrase was uttered in India, until the truth was established: Baba Dioum is Senegalese. Today, an American website has given the correct information and context for this quote, clearly stating that Baba Dioum was born in Dahra, Senegal, and that he is a forestry engineer.

The first consequence is my appointment as governor for life of the International Council on Environmental Law (ICEL) alongside luminaries such as the German Wolfgang Burhenne or the Indian Nadra Singh.”

For me, this sort of contextualizing information is entirely worth tracking down.