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.
CHINUA ACHEBELiterature, whether handed down by word or mouth or in print, gives us a second handle on reality.
More Chinua Achebe Quotes
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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.
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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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There is nothing to fear from someone who shouts.
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The sun will shine on those who stand before it shines on those who kneel under them.
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Every lizard lies on its belly, so we cannot tell which has a belly-ache
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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?
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A man who pays respect to the great paves the way for his own greatness
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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.
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The lizard that jumped from a high Iroko tree to the ground said he would praise himself if no-one else did.
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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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A man who does not lick his lips, can he blame the harmattan for drying them?
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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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What a country needs to do is be fair to all its citizens – whether people are of a different ethnicity or gender.
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Wisdom is like a goatskin bag; every man carries his own.
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As long as one people sit on another and are deaf to their cry, so long will understanding and peace elude all of us.
CHINUA ACHEBE