Humans, not places, make memories.
AMA ATA AIDOOthe best way to sharpen a knife is not to whet one side of it only. And neither can you solve a riddle by considering only one end of it.
More Ama Ata Aidoo Quotes
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Sometimes a word or an argument will trigger a poem.
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Ghana is like a lion without a head
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For us Africans, literature must serve a purpose: to expose, embarrass, and fight corruption and authoritarianism.
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At the age of 15, a teacher had asked me what I wanted to do for a career, and without knowing why or even how I replied that I wanted to be a poet.
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It is a matter of some interest, that the only other volume A Mouth Sweeter Than Salt reminds one of is Ake, by Wole Soyinka. What is it about these Yorubas?
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Its a sad moment, really, when parents first become a bit frightened of their children.
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Once an interesting idea or theme occurs to me then I would want to write a poem about it. The rest, frankly, is not difficult.
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Politicians are easy to attack, but frankly, we are all guilty of not meeting the needs of Africa’s young people properly.
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It is understandable why the African artist is utilitarian.
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Life is inspirational; sometimes it comes from the most unlikely places.
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Things are working out… towards their dazzling conclusions.
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Once in a while I catch myself wondering whether I would have found the courage to write if I had not started to write when I was too young to know what was good for me.
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They had always told me that I wrote like a man.
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The very old certainly do not go back on lunch remains but they do bite back at old conversational topics.
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Soyinka’s Death at Dawn, Auden’s Musée des Beaux Arts, Stevie Smith’s Not Waving but Drowning and Wislawa Szymborska’s Some People come to mind immediately. But there are plenty, plenty more that I enjoy.
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