Storytellers 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 ACHEBELet the kite perch and let the eagle perch too – If one says no to the other, let his wing break.
More Chinua Achebe Quotes
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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.
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When an old man dies, a library burns to the ground.
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Every lizard lies on its belly, so we cannot tell which has a belly-ache
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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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If you only hear one side of the story, you have no understanding at all.
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In 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.
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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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Let the kite perch and let the eagle perch too – If one says no to the other, let his wing break.
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An angry man is always a stupid man.
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When we are comfortable and inattentive, we run the risk of committing grave injustices absentmindedly.
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Privilege, you see, is one of the great adversaries of the imagination; it spreads a thick layer of adipose tissue over our sensitivity.
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Wisdom is like a goatskin bag; every man carries his own.
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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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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.
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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.
CHINUA ACHEBE