We do not seek to hurt any man, but if any man seeks to hurt us may he break his neck.
CHINUA ACHEBECharity is the opium of the privileged.
More Chinua Achebe Quotes
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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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We cannot trample upon the humanity of others without devaluing our own.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
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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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.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
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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A man who does not lick his lips, can he blame the harmattan for drying them?
CHINUA ACHEBE -
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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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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When a tradition gathers enough strength to go on for centuries, you don’t just turn it off one day.
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Every lizard lies on its belly, so we cannot tell which has a belly-ache
CHINUA ACHEBE -
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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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.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
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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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.
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When brothers fight to death a stranger inherit their father’s estate.
CHINUA ACHEBE