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.
CHINUA ACHEBEI 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.
More Chinua Achebe Quotes
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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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Whenever you see a toad jumping in broad daylight, then know that something is after its life.
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Whatever music you beat on your drum there is somebody who can dance to it.
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Privilege, you see, is one of the great adversaries of the imagination; it spreads a thick layer of adipose tissue over our sensitivity.
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Nigeria is what it is because its leaders are not what they should be.
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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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If you don’t like someone’s story, write your own. If you don’t like what somebody says, say what it is you don’t like.
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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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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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The language of young men is pull down and destroy; but an old man speaks of conciliation.
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If you only hear one side of the story, you have no understanding at all.
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When an old man dies, a library burns to the ground.
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One of the truest tests of integrity is its blunt refusal to be compromised.
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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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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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A man who makes trouble for others is also making trouble for himself.
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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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The singer should sing well even if it is merely to himself, rather than dance badly for the whole world.
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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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It is praiseworthy to be brave and fearless, but sometimes it is better to be a coward. We often stand in the compound of a coward to point at the ruins where a brave man used to live.
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Art is man’s constant effort to create for himself a different order of reality from that which is given to him.
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If you have leaders who are prepared to incite group against group it is very easy to manufacture reasons and excuses.
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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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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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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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As a rule I don’t like suffering to no purpose. Suffering should be creative, should give birth to something good and lovely.
CHINUA ACHEBE