When a tradition gathers enough strength to go on for centuries, you don’t just turn it off one day.
CHINUA ACHEBE
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Lizard
The lizard that jumped from a high Iroko tree to the ground said he would praise himself if no-one else did.
More Chinua Achebe Quotes
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When a tradition gathers enough strength to go on for centuries, you don’t just turn it off one day.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
There is no story that is not true.
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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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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.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
The sun will shine on those who stand before it shines on those who kneel under them.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
My son even if you want to fall, at least fall where your bones can be gathered.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
When brothers fight to death a stranger inherit their father’s estate.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
A man who does not lick his lips, can he blame the harmattan for drying them?
CHINUA ACHEBE -
An angry man is always a stupid man.
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.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
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.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
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 -
When we are comfortable and inattentive, we run the risk of committing grave injustices absentmindedly.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
The only thing we have learnt from experience is that we learn nothing from experience.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
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.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
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?
CHINUA ACHEBE