Charity is the opium of the privileged.
CHINUA ACHEBEOnce you allow yourself to identify with the people in a story, then you might begin to see yourself in that story even if on the surface it’s far removed from your situation.
More Chinua Achebe Quotes
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A man who pays respect to the great paves the way for his own greatness
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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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Nobody can teach me who I am. You can describe parts of me, but who I am – and what I need – is something I have to find out myself.
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There is nothing to fear from someone who shouts.
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Each of my books is different. Deliberately. I wanted to create my society, my people, in their fullness.
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When a tradition gathers enough strength to go on for centuries, you don’t just turn it off one day.
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If you only hear one side of the story, you have no understanding at all.
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A child cannot pay for its mother’s milk.
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The man that brings ant-infested faggots into his hut should not grumble when lizards begin to pay him a visit.
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I don’t like to see mistakes on the typewriter. I like a perfect script. On the typewriter I will sometimes leave a phrase that is not right, not what I want, simply because to change it would be a bit messy.
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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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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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People create stories create people; or rather stories create people create stories.
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When old people speak it is not because of the sweetness of words in our mouths; it is because we see something which you do not see.
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You do not know me,’ said Tortoise. ‘I am a changed man. I have learned that a man who makes trouble for others makes trouble for himself.
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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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Women and music should not be dated.
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What a country needs to do is be fair to all its citizens – whether people are of a different ethnicity or gender.
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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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An artist in my view is always afraid of extremists; he is always afraid of those who claim to have found the ultimate solution to any question.
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Once you allow yourself to identify with the people in a story, then you might begin to see yourself in that story even if on the surface it’s far removed from your situation.
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One of the truest tests of integrity is its blunt refusal to be compromised.
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Wisdom is like a goatskin bag; every man carries his own.
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We cannot trample upon the humanity of others without devaluing our own.
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A coward may cover the ground with his words but when the time comes to fight he runs away.
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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.
CHINUA ACHEBE