Art is man’s constant effort to create for himself a different order of reality from that which is given to him.
CHINUA ACHEBEArt is man’s constant effort to create for himself a different order of reality from that which is given to him.
CHINUA ACHEBEPeople create stories create people; or rather stories create people create stories.
CHINUA ACHEBEThe only thing we have learnt from experience is that we learn nothing from experience.
CHINUA ACHEBEWhen suffering knocks at your door and you say there is no seat for him, he tells you not to worry because he has brought his own stool.
CHINUA ACHEBEIn dealing with a man who thinks you are a fool, it is good sometimes to remind him that you know what he knows but have chosen to appear foolish for the sake of peace.
CHINUA ACHEBEThe 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!
CHINUA ACHEBEThe 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.
CHINUA ACHEBEAn artist in my view is always afraid of extremists; he is always afraid of those who claim to have found the ultimate solution to any question.
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.
CHINUA ACHEBEThere is a moral obligation, I think, not to ally oneself with power against the powerless.
CHINUA ACHEBEThe damage done in one year can sometimes take ten or twenty years to repair.
CHINUA ACHEBELet the kite perch and let the eagle perch too – If one says no to the other, let his wing break.
CHINUA ACHEBEWhen brothers fight to death a stranger inherit their father’s estate.
CHINUA ACHEBEProcrastination is a lazy man’s apology.
CHINUA ACHEBEAmong the Igbo the art of conversation is regarded very highly, and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten.
CHINUA ACHEBEStorytellers are a threat. They threaten all champions of control, they frighten usurpers of the right-to-freedom of the human spirit — in state, in church or mosque, in party congress, in the university or wherever.
CHINUA ACHEBE