Do not be in a hurry to rush into the pleasures of the world like the young antelope who danced herself lame when the main dance was yet to come.
CHINUA ACHEBEWe shall all live. We pray for life, children, a good harvest and happiness. You will have what is good for you and I will have what is good for me. Let the kite perch and let the egret perch too. If one says no to the other, let his wing break.
More Chinua Achebe Quotes
-
-
Privilege, you see, is one of the great adversaries of the imagination; it spreads a thick layer of adipose tissue over our sensitivity.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
Procrastination is a lazy man’s apology.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
I prefer to go on trying all kinds of things, not to be told, This is the way it is done.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
Literature, whether handed down by word or mouth or in print, gives us a second handle on reality.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
If I hold her hand she says, ‘Don’t touch!’ If I hold her foot she says ‘Don’t touch!’ But when I hold her waist-beads she pretends not to know.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
If a child washed his hands, he could eat with kings.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
Just think of the work you’ve set yourself to do, and do it as well as you can.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
We do not seek to hurt any man, but if any man seeks to hurt us may he break his neck.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
No man however great is greater than his people.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
Let the kite perch and let the eagle perch too – If one says no to the other, let his wing break.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
My weapon is literature.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
The world is like a Mask dancing. If you want to see it well, you do not stand in one place.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
We shall all live. We pray for life, children, a good harvest and happiness. You will have what is good for you and I will have what is good for me. Let the kite perch and let the egret perch too. If one says no to the other, let his wing break.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
What a country needs to do is be fair to all its citizens – whether people are of a different ethnicity or gender.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
When an old man dies, a library burns to the ground.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
There is a moral obligation, I think, not to ally oneself with power against the powerless.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
An angry man is always a stupid man.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
The impatient idealist says: ‘Give me a place to stand and I shall move the earth.’ But such a place does not exist. We all have to stand on the earth itself and go with her at her pace.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
The damage done in one year can sometimes take ten or twenty years to repair.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
The man that brings ant-infested faggots into his hut should not grumble when lizards begin to pay him a visit.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
As long as one people sit on another and are deaf to their cry, so long will understanding and peace elude all of us.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
What a man does not know is greater than he.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
When a tradition gathers enough strength to go on for centuries, you don’t just turn it off one day.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
The world is large,” said Okonkwo. “I have even heard that in some tribes a man’s children belong to his wife and her family.” “That cannot be,” said Machi. “You might as well say that the woman lies on top of the man when they are making the babies.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
Every lizard lies on its belly, so we cannot tell which has a belly-ache
CHINUA ACHEBE