People go to Africa and confirm what they already have in their heads and so they fail to see what is there in front of them.
CHINUA ACHEBEIt is the story that owns and directs us. It is the thing that makes us different from cattle; it is the mark on the face that sets one people apart from their neighbors.
More Chinua Achebe Quotes
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I am against people reaping where they have not sown. But we have a saying that if you want to eat a toad you should look for a fat and juicy one.
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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.
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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.
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When a mad man walks naked, it is his kinsmen who feel shame, not himself.
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As long as one people sit on another and are deaf to their cry, so long will understanding and peace elude all of us.
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If you don’t like someone’s story, write your own.
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If you only hear one side of the story, you have no understanding at all.
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I 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.
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When a man is at peace with his gods and ancestors, his harvest will be good or bad according to the strength of his arm.
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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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A debt may get mouldy, but it never decays.
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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.
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He is a fool who treats his brother worse than a stranger.
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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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The language of young men is pull down and destroy; but an old man speaks of conciliation.
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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.
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An angry man is always a stupid man.
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Literature, whether handed down by word or mouth or in print, gives us a second handle on reality.
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When mother-cow is chewing grass its young ones watch its mouth
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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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A man who makes trouble for others is also making trouble for himself.
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Whenever you see a toad jumping in broad daylight, then know that something is after its life.
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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 recognize and embrace the task it is peculiarly designed by history and by providence to perform.
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The singer should sing well even if it is merely to himself, rather than dance badly for the whole world.
CHINUA ACHEBE