How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #1
Take up the White Man's burden-- (1, 9, 17, 25, 33, 41, 49)
This refrain neatly captures the poem's central thesis. It's up to white men (and white men only) to nobly shoulder the heavy load ("burden") of bringing the rest of the world up to his level. This attitude of racial superiority is behind nearly every social injustice that's been committed by one group against another.
Quote #2
To wait in heavy harness,
On fluttered folk and wild--
Your new-caught, sullen peoples,
Half-devil and half-child. (5-8)
Even without the title and the refrain, the descriptions of other races as "wild," "sullen," and "half-devil and half-child" are in and of themselves over-the-top racist. Native locals were seen as in need of civilizing, little better than animals who needed to be taught how to live... like white men.
Quote #3
By open speech and simple,
An hundred times made plain (13-14)
This is a shot at the native people's intellects: "You'll have to speak slowly and repeat yourself a lot." Um, why don't you learn to speak Filipino, dude? The suggestion that one language should be dominant over another—especially in someone else's country—points to an attitude of racial superiority.