Only the story can continue beyond the war and the warrior. The story outlives the sound of the war drum… The story is our escort. Without it we are blind… It is the thing that sets us apart from cattle.
CHINUA ACHEBEI think not just Nigeria but I think the whole of Africa has to turn back to the rural areas and that’s where the majority of the citizens are and that’s where the engine of of development has to be found.
More Chinua Achebe Quotes
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Wisdom is like a goatskin bag; every man carries his own.
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One of the truest tests of integrity is its blunt refusal to be compromised.
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An angry man is always a stupid man.
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When a coward sees a man he can beat he becomes hungry for a fight.
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When I began going to school and learned to read, I encountered stories of other people and other lands.
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There is nothing to fear from someone who shouts.
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Just think of the work you’ve set yourself to do, and do it as well as you can.
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One reason why I am quite angry with what is happening in Nigeria today is that everything has collapsed. If I decide to go back now, there will be so many problems – where will I find the physical therapy and other things that I now require?
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Procrastination is a lazy man’s apology.
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The lizard that jumped from a high Iroko tree to the ground said he would praise himself if no-one else did.
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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.
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Africa is to Europe as the picture is to Dorian Gray-a carrier onto whom the master unloads his physical & moral deformities.
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A goat does not eat into a hen’s stomach no matter how friendly the two may be.
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If one finger brings oil it soils the others.
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People create stories create people; or rather stories create people create stories.
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When an old man dies, a library burns to the ground.
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I think back to the old people I knew when I was growing up, and they always seemed larger than life.
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It is the storyteller who makes us what we are, who creates history. The storyteller creates the memory that the survivors must have – otherwise their surviving would have no meaning.
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Now one of the changes that must come to Africa is the idea of limited rule, I mean in term of how long one leader can stay in power. The era of president for life is not gone yet but it is on its way out and that is one of the problems with Mugabe and others.
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A disease that has never been seen before cannot be cured with every-day herbs.
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As a rule I don’t like suffering to no purpose. Suffering should be creative, should give birth to something good and lovely.
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It has always been quite apparent to me that no important story can fail to tell us something of value to us.
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The world is like a Mask dancing. If you want to see it well, you do not stand in one place.
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Among the Igbo the art of conversation is regarded very highly, and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten.
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Every generation must find its mission and fulfill it, as Fanon said – or betray it. So it is not something that you can write up on the wall, saying this is what has to be done. Every generation has to discover what it needs to do.
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A man who makes trouble for others is also making trouble for himself.
CHINUA ACHEBE