"I swear to your Highnesses that there is not a better land under the sun."

"I recognized that they were people who would be better freed [from error] and converted to our Holy Faith by love than by force."

"They have no iron or steel weapons, nor are they capable of using them."

"No one should fear to undertake any task in the name of our Saviour, if it is just and if the intention is purely for His holy service."

"I arrived at the Indies with the fleet which the Sovereigns, our Lord and Lady, sent me. I had not been there twenty days when I discovered by my own experience that the whole of that land is an islan…"