The singer should sing well even if it is merely to himself, rather than dance badly for the whole world.
CHINUA ACHEBEEvery 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.
More Chinua Achebe Quotes
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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.
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When mother-cow is chewing grass its young ones watch its mouth
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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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A man who pays respect to the great paves the way for his own greatness
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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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A debt may get mouldy, but it never decays.
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If a child washed his hands, he could eat with kings.
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A goat does not eat into a hen’s stomach no matter how friendly the two may be.
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When a man is at peace with his gods and ancestors, his harvest will be good or bad according to the strength of his arm.
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A child cannot pay for its mother’s milk.
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Charity is the opium of the privileged.
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He is a fool who treats his brother worse than a stranger.
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When we are comfortable and inattentive, we run the risk of committing grave injustices absentmindedly.
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I prefer to go on trying all kinds of things, not to be told, This is the way it is done.
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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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There is no story that is not true.
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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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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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There is nothing to fear from someone who shouts.
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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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There is that great proverb – that until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.
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The world is like a Mask dancing. If you want to see it well, you do not stand in one place.
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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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Dancing is very important nowadays. No girl will look at you if you can’t dance.
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One of the truest tests of integrity is its blunt refusal to be compromised.
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The 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 ACHEBE