“A disease that has never been seen before cannot be cured with every-day herbs.”

Let the kite perch and let the eagle perch too – If one says no to the other, let his wing break.

No man however great is greater than his people.

The world is like a Mask dancing. If you want to see it well, you do not stand in one place.

The impatient idealist says: ‘Give me a place to stand and I shall move the earth.’ But such a place does not exist. We all have to stand on the earth itself and go with her at her pace.

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.

Literature, whether handed down by word or mouth or in print, gives us a second handle on reality.

We shall all live. We pray for life, children, a good harvest and happiness. You will have what is good for you and I will have what is good for me. Let the kite perch and let the egret perch too. If one says no to the other, let his wing break.

Nigeria is what it is because its leaders are not what they should be.

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.

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.

Whatever music you beat on your drum there is somebody who can dance to it.

When mother-cow is chewing grass its young ones watch its mouth

Among the Igbo the art of conversation is regarded very highly, and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten.

Just think of the work you’ve set yourself to do, and do it as well as you can.

When a coward sees a man he can beat he becomes hungry for a fight.

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?

The cure for advanced gullibility is to go to sleep and consider matters again the next day.

How small of all that human hearts endure, That part which laws or kings can cause or cure.

You’re on earth. There’s no cure for that.

There are remedies for all things but death.

I’m sorry is no longer a healing balm. It won’t happen again is just another lie.

The best philanthropy is constantly in search of the finalities-a search for a cause, an attempt to cure evils at their source.

The violence and injustice of the rulers of mankind is an ancient evil, for which, I am afraid, the nature of human affairs can scarce admit a remedy.

We all have private ails. The troublemakers are they who need public cures for their private ails.