There is a moral obligation, I think, not to ally oneself with power against the powerless.
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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Nigeria is what it is because its leaders are not what they should be.
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My son even if you want to fall, at least fall where your bones can be gathered.
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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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The singer should sing well even if it is merely to himself, rather than dance badly for the whole world.
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The price a world language must be prepared to pay is submission to many different kinds of use.
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I think back to the old people I knew when I was growing up, and they always seemed larger than life.
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Every generation must recognize and embrace the task it is peculiarly designed by history and by providence to perform.
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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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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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Africa is to Europe as the picture is to Dorian Gray-a carrier onto whom the master unloads his physical & moral deformities.
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The language of young men is pull down and destroy; but an old man speaks of conciliation.
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A man who does not lick his lips, can he blame the harmattan for drying them?
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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 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!
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Once you allow yourself to identify with the people in a story, then you might begin to see yourself in that story even if on the surface it’s far removed from your situation.
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If a child washed his hands, he could eat with kings.
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He is a fool who treats his brother worse than a stranger.
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When a tradition gathers enough strength to go on for centuries, you don’t just turn it off one day.
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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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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.
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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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People go to Africa and confirm what they already have in their heads and so they fail to see what is there in front of them.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
A man who makes trouble for others is also making trouble for himself.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
Whatever music you beat on your drum there is somebody who can dance to it.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
We do not seek to hurt any man, but if any man seeks to hurt us may he break his neck.
CHINUA ACHEBE