Among the Igbo the art of conversation is regarded very highly, and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten.
CHINUA ACHEBEStorytellers 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.
More Chinua Achebe Quotes
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I think not just Nigeria but I think the whole of Africa has to turn back to the rural areas and that’s where the majority of the citizens are and that’s where the engine of of development has to be found.
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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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There is nothing to fear from someone who shouts.
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My weapon is literature.
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As long as one people sit on another and are deaf to their cry, so long will understanding and peace elude all of us.
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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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There is a moral obligation, I think, not to ally oneself with power against the powerless.
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Wisdom is like a goatskin bag; every man carries his own.
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I prefer to go on trying all kinds of things, not to be told, This is the way it is done.
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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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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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If a child washed his hands, he could eat with kings.
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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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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.
CHINUA ACHEBE