I prefer to go on trying all kinds of things, not to be told, This is the way it is done.
CHINUA ACHEBEThe man that brings ant-infested faggots into his hut should not grumble when lizards begin to pay him a visit.
More Chinua Achebe Quotes
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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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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.
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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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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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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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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.
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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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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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An angry man is always a stupid man.
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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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When mother-cow is chewing grass its young ones watch its mouth
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Become familiar with your home, but know also about your neighbors. The young man who never went anywhere thinks his mother is the greatest cook.
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The singer should sing well even if it is merely to himself, rather than dance badly for the whole world.
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When an old man dies, a library burns to the ground.
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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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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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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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Literature, whether handed down by word or mouth or in print, gives us a second handle on reality.
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There is a moral obligation, I think, not to ally oneself with power against the powerless.
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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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The problem with leaderless uprisings taking over is that you don’t always know what you get at the other end. If you are not careful you could replace a bad government with one much worse!
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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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In fact, I thought that Christianity was very a good and a very valuable thing for us. But after a while, I began to feel that the story that I was told about this religion wasn’t perhaps completely whole, that something was left out.
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Most writers who are beginners, if they are honest with themselves, will admit that they are praying for a readership as they begin to write. But it should be the quality of the craft, not the audience, that should be the greatest motivating factor.
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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 ACHEBE