---
title: "3 Colonialism Quotes By Rem Koolhaas"
description: "3 Colonialism quotes by Rem Koolhaas. Plus more from Rem Koolhaas and more Colonialism sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/89c/rem-koolhaas-5371_achievement_why-i-talked-about-political-correctness_565618.jpg"
---

> [Why I talked about political correctness: the colonial is now such a major taboo that any achievement of the colonial period, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rem-koolhaas/why-i-talked-about-political-correctness-the-colonial-is-now-such-a/)

[Rem Koolhaas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rem-koolhaas/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/89c/rem-koolhaas-5371_achievement_why-i-talked-about-political-correctness_565618.jpg)

> [Lagos has also had a particular effect on my career. I was there early, and although it was a courageous step to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rem-koolhaas/lagos-has-also-had-a-particular-effect-on-my-career-i-was-there-early/)

[Rem Koolhaas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rem-koolhaas/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/56e/rem-koolhaas-5371_africa_lagos-has-also-had-a-particular-effect-o_698705.jpg)

> [I studied in London in 1968. Our school had a separate department of tropical architecture. Of course it was totally unfashionable, partly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rem-koolhaas/i-studied-in-london-in-1968-our-school-had-a-separate-department-of/)

[Rem Koolhaas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rem-koolhaas/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/95d/rem-koolhaas-5371_abandoned_i-studied-in-london-in-1968-our-school-h_2041137.jpg)

## Other authors on Colonialism

- [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b001/author-abhijit-naskar-99.jpg) Abhijit Naskar 34 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/colonialism/abhijit-naskar/)
- [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b003/author-albert-memmi-10540.jpg) Albert Memmi 10 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/colonialism/albert-memmi/)
- [Bruce Gilley 9 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/colonialism/bruce-gilley/)
- [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b009/author-frantz-fanon-35960.jpg) Frantz Fanon 8 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/colonialism/frantz-fanon/)
- [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b004/author-artur-davis-15093.jpg) Kwame Nkrumah 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/colonialism/kwame-nkrumah/)
- [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b006/author-christopher-hitchens-23938.jpg) Christopher Hitchens 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/colonialism/christopher-hitchens/)
- [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b004/author-arundhati-roy-15126.jpg) Arundhati Roy 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/colonialism/arundhati-roy/)

## More by Rem Koolhaas

> [ That has been another interesting discovery: that basically a city \[Lagos\] could recover from a really deep, deep, deep pit. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rem-koolhaas/that-has-been-another-interesting-discovery-that-basically-a-city/)

[Rem Koolhaas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rem-koolhaas/)

> [Manhattan has generated a shameless architecture that has been loved in direct proportion to its defiant lack of self-hatred, has been respected exactly to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rem-koolhaas/manhattan-has-generated-a-shameless-architecture-that-has-been-loved/)

[Rem Koolhaas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rem-koolhaas/)

> [In a script, you have to link various episodes together, you have to generate suspense and you have to assemble things - through editing,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rem-koolhaas/in-a-script-you-have-to-link-various-episodes-together-you-have-to/)

[Rem Koolhaas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rem-koolhaas/)

> [ The beauty of my profession \[architecture\] lies in its randomness and surprise. And don't think I can choose my projects. I have to build… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rem-koolhaas/the-beauty-of-my-profession-architecture-lies-in-its-randomness-and/)

[Rem Koolhaas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rem-koolhaas/)

> [Our office acts like a kind of educational establishment and we are very careful who we educate.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rem-koolhaas/our-office-acts-like-a-kind-of-educational-establishment-and-we-are/)

[Rem Koolhaas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rem-koolhaas/)

> [We discovered a person in Lagos who had a fish stall, and within a single square metre she carried two children all the way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rem-koolhaas/we-discovered-a-person-in-lagos-who-had-a-fish-stall-and-within-a/)

[Rem Koolhaas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rem-koolhaas/)

> [ Nigeria \[in 1990\] was all rumour, an unbelievable amount of rumour - largely about crime and almost mythical manifestations of evil. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rem-koolhaas/nigeria-in-1990-was-all-rumour-an-unbelievable-amount-of-rumour/)

[Rem Koolhaas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rem-koolhaas/)

> [Let's put it this way: One can be happy or unhappy in a building. But some buildings make us more depressed than others.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rem-koolhaas/let-s-put-it-this-way-one-can-be-happy-or-unhappy-in-a-building-but/)

[Rem Koolhaas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rem-koolhaas/)

> [Nigeria was a blank on the map - there weren't even any maps. The US State Department, everyone said don't go there. It was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rem-koolhaas/nigeria-was-a-blank-on-the-map-there-weren-t-even-any-maps-the-us/)

[Rem Koolhaas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rem-koolhaas/)

> [The City is an addictive machine from which there is no escape](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rem-koolhaas/the-city-is-an-addictive-machine-from-which-there-is-no-escape/)

[Rem Koolhaas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rem-koolhaas/)

> [The work in S, M, L, XL was almost suicidal. It required so much effort that our office almost went bankrupt.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rem-koolhaas/the-work-in-s-m-l-xl-was-almost-suicidal-it-required-so-much-effort/)

[Rem Koolhaas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rem-koolhaas/)

> [Manhattan has no choice but the skyward extrusion of the Grid itself; only the Skyscraper offers business the wide-open spaces of a man-made Wild…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rem-koolhaas/manhattan-has-no-choice-but-the-skyward-extrusion-of-the-grid-itself/)

[Rem Koolhaas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rem-koolhaas/)

> [The stronger the identity, the more it imprisons, the more it resists expansion, interpretation, renewal, contradiction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rem-koolhaas/the-stronger-the-identity-the-more-it-imprisons-the-more-it-resists/)

[Rem Koolhaas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rem-koolhaas/)

> [Why I talked about political correctness: the colonial is now such a major taboo that any achievement of the colonial period, or any generosity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rem-koolhaas/why-i-talked-about-political-correctness-the-colonial-is-now-such-a/)

[Rem Koolhaas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rem-koolhaas/)

> [The thing is that I have a really intense, almost compulsive need to record. But it doesn't end there, because what I record is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rem-koolhaas/the-thing-is-that-i-have-a-really-intense-almost-compulsive-need-to/)

[Rem Koolhaas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rem-koolhaas/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "ItemList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/colonialism/rem-koolhaas/#itemlist",
            "name": "3 Colonialism Quotes By Rem Koolhaas",
            "numberOfItems": 3,
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "Why I talked about political correctness: the colonial is now such a major taboo that any achievement of the colonial period, or any generosity implied in colonialism, is again fundamentally neglected or fundamentally not recognised. That's crazy, because history is a series of layers, and you cannot say, \"This layer I support and this layer I cancel.\" History is history and you cannot retrospectively manipulate it.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Rem Koolhaas"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rem-koolhaas/why-i-talked-about-political-correctness-the-colonial-is-now-such-a/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/89c/rem-koolhaas-5371_achievement_why-i-talked-about-political-correctness_565618.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/89c/rem-koolhaas-5371_achievement_why-i-talked-about-political-correctness_565618.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/89c/rem-koolhaas-5371_achievement_why-i-talked-about-political-correctness_565618.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Why I talked about political correctness: the colonial is now such a major taboo that any achievement of the…” — Rem Koolhaas",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "Lagos has also had a particular effect on my career. I was there early, and although it was a courageous step to go there and invest on this scale - I went there maybe 20 times - it's also been also super-controversial. There's an old school of thought that somebody like me has no place to go there.Because of colonialism and so on.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Rem Koolhaas"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rem-koolhaas/lagos-has-also-had-a-particular-effect-on-my-career-i-was-there-early/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/56e/rem-koolhaas-5371_africa_lagos-has-also-had-a-particular-effect-o_698705.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/56e/rem-koolhaas-5371_africa_lagos-has-also-had-a-particular-effect-o_698705.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/56e/rem-koolhaas-5371_africa_lagos-has-also-had-a-particular-effect-o_698705.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Lagos has also had a particular effect on my career. I was there early, and although it was a courageous…” — Rem Koolhaas",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "I studied in London in 1968. Our school had a separate department of tropical architecture. Of course it was totally unfashionable, partly because nobody wanted to think about colonialism, but basically what you learned there was that, OK, the sun is here, so you should create natural ventilation here - an unbelievable amount of really sound principles that have been completely abandoned, so now everything is air conditioned with big machines.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Rem Koolhaas"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rem-koolhaas/i-studied-in-london-in-1968-our-school-had-a-separate-department-of/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/95d/rem-koolhaas-5371_abandoned_i-studied-in-london-in-1968-our-school-h_2041137.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/95d/rem-koolhaas-5371_abandoned_i-studied-in-london-in-1968-our-school-h_2041137.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/95d/rem-koolhaas-5371_abandoned_i-studied-in-london-in-1968-our-school-h_2041137.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“I studied in London in 1968. Our school had a separate department of tropical architecture. Of course it was…” — Rem Koolhaas",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "CollectionPage",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/colonialism/rem-koolhaas/#webpage",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/colonialism/rem-koolhaas/",
            "name": "Colonialism Quotes by Rem Koolhaas",
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "mainEntity": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/colonialism/rem-koolhaas/#itemlist"
            },
            "primaryImageOfPage": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/89c/rem-koolhaas-5371_achievement_why-i-talked-about-political-correctness_565618.jpg"
            },
            "description": "3 Colonialism quotes by Rem Koolhaas. Plus more from Rem Koolhaas and more Colonialism sayings from other authors.",
            "breadcrumb": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/colonialism/rem-koolhaas/#breadcrumb"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/colonialism/rem-koolhaas/#breadcrumb",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Topics",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/categories/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "Colonialism",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/colonialism/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 5,
                    "name": "Rem Koolhaas",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/colonialism/rem-koolhaas/"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
