“ I have seen the corpse of Palisoe, who died of old age, for his hairs were white:
If I die of old age, with white hairs, hired women will stand weeping near my corpse,
And they will make lamentation, as did the mourners over Palisoe's corpse, and the grandchildren will weep very loud. ”

“ Wawelaar himself has said that God so directs all things that orthodoxy leads to wealth. 'Look only,' he said, 'is there not much wealth in Holland? That is because of the faith. Is there not in France every day murder and homicide? That is because there are Roman Catholics there. Are not the Javanese poor? They are Pagans. The more the Dutch have to do with the Javanese the more wealth will be here and the more poverty there.' I am astonished at Wawelaar's penetration ”

“ But distance is a dispassionate arbiter, and looked at from across the sea, the first impression which "Max Havelaar" produces is that of an attempt to blend in one a political pamphlet, a novel, and a collection of thoughts and opinions on things in general, which has spoilt all three. ”

“ To the Dutchman himself this was a tenet of positive faith, which he drank down afresh with every cupful of his Java coffee, which he saw confirmed day after day at the auctions of his great handelsmaatschappy, or Trading Company, in which his king was known to be a leading shareholder. Foreign visitors confirmed these conclusions, English above all — amongst whom it will be sufficient to name Mr. Money, whose "Java" is little more than a panegyric on Dutch, as compared with British, India.
In the midst of this state of things a book like "Max Havelaar" would explode like a shell. ”

“ The plot is really too slight to be worth analyzing in detail; suffice it to say that Havelaar is an Assistant-Resident in Java, intent on doing justice, and who thereby only brings disgrace upon himself. More than one such tale might be told from the records of British India; and it is indeed remarkable that the worst excesses which the book complains of are laid to the charge of the native officials, although the burden of the vicious system of government, with which the tolerance of their malpractices seems almost irretrievably bound up, lies of course with the European rulers. ”

“ Why do they want buffaloes, those black fellows? I never had a buffalo, and yet I am contented; there are men who are always complaining. And as regards that scoffing at forced labour, I perceive that he had not heard that sermon of Domine Wawelaar's, otherwise he would know how useful labour is in the extension of the kingdom of God. ”

“ They cry, 'rroo,' 'rroo,' 'rroo.' Try crying, 'rroo,' 'rroo,' for six thousand years or more, and you will see how few persons will think you an amusing man." A full idea of the book cannot, however, be given without a sample of its pathos. Here is a perfectly exquisite piece of metre-less poetry, which, if not translated from the Javanese, but the work of Mr. Douwes Dekker himself, is simply a nineteenth-century miracle: —
"I do not know when I shall die. ”

“ Will not any gentlemen or ladies with volumes of poems ready, or preparing, or accumulating for publication, after reading the above, oblige their contemporaries and posterity by throwing their manuscripts into the fire? ”