Art is man’s constant effort to create for himself a different order of reality from that which is given to him.
CHINUA ACHEBEAmong the Igbo the art of conversation is regarded very highly, and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten.
More Chinua Achebe Quotes
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If one finger brings oil it soils the others.
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And theories are no more than fictions which help us to make sense of experience and which are subject to disconfirmation when their explanations are no longer adequate.
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When we are comfortable and inattentive, we run the risk of committing grave injustices absentmindedly.
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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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People say that if you find water rising up to your ankle, that’s the time to do something about it, not when it’s around your neck.
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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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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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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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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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While we do our good works let us not forget that the real solution lies in a world in which charity will have become unnecessary.
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People create stories create people; or rather stories create people create stories.
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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 tradition gathers enough strength to go on for centuries, you don’t just turn it off one day.
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A functioning, robust democracy requires a healthy educated, participatory followership, and an educated, morally grounded leadership.
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The damage done in one year can sometimes take ten or twenty years to repair.
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No matter how prosperous a man was, if he was unable to rule his women and his children (and especially his women) he was not really a man.
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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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Every lizard lies on its belly, so we cannot tell which has a belly-ache
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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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Literature, whether handed down by word or mouth or in print, gives us a second handle on reality.
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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 an old man dies, a library burns to the ground.
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A child cannot pay for its mother’s milk.
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When a coward sees a man he can beat he becomes hungry for a fight.
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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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Procrastination is a lazy man’s apology.
CHINUA ACHEBE