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 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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The man that brings ant-infested faggots into his hut should not grumble when lizards begin to pay him a visit.
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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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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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Among the Igbo the art of conversation is regarded very highly, and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten.
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When a coward sees a man he can beat he becomes hungry for a fight.
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If a child washed his hands, he could eat with kings.
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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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A child cannot pay for its mother’s milk.
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Art is man’s constant effort to create for himself a different order of reality from that which is given to him.
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A disease that has never been seen before cannot be cured with every-day herbs.
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It is praiseworthy to be brave and fearless, but sometimes it is better to be a coward. We often stand in the compound of a coward to point at the ruins where a brave man used to live.
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I am against people reaping where they have not sown. But we have a saying that if you want to eat a toad you should look for a fat and juicy one.
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It is the story that owns and directs us. It is the thing that makes us different from cattle; it is the mark on the face that sets one people apart from their neighbors.
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A man of worth never gets up to unsay what he said yesterday.
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Only the story can continue beyond the war and the warrior. The story outlives the sound of the war drum… The story is our escort. Without it we are blind… It is the thing that sets us apart from cattle.
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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.
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Do not be in a hurry to rush into the pleasures of the world like the young antelope who danced herself lame when the main dance was yet to come.
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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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Each of my books is different. Deliberately. I wanted to create my society, my people, in their fullness.
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We cannot trample upon the humanity of others without devaluing our own. The Igbo, always practical, put it concretely in their proverb Onye ji onye n’ani ji onwe ya: ‘He who will hold another down in the mud must stay in the mud to keep him down.’
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A man who pays respect to the great paves the way for his own greatness
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You do not know me,’ said Tortoise. ‘I am a changed man. I have learned that a man who makes trouble for others makes trouble for himself.
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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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There is a moral obligation, I think, not to ally oneself with power against the powerless.
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Whatever music you beat on your drum there is somebody who can dance to it.
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When mother-cow is chewing grass its young ones watch its mouth
CHINUA ACHEBE