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.
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.
More Chinua Achebe Quotes
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Every generation must recognize and embrace the task it is peculiarly designed by history and by providence to perform.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
When a coward sees a man he can beat he becomes hungry for a fight.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
My son even if you want to fall, at least fall where your bones can be gathered.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
Whenever you see a toad jumping in broad daylight, then know that something is after its life.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
Africa is to Europe as the picture is to Dorian Gray-a carrier onto whom the master unloads his physical & moral deformities.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
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.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
Whatever music you beat on your drum there is somebody who can dance to it.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
Procrastination is a lazy man’s apology.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
When a mad man walks naked, it is his kinsmen who feel shame, not himself.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
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.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
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 -
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.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
Charity is the opium of the privileged.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
When I began going to school and learned to read, I encountered stories of other people and other lands.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
When 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 ACHEBE