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.
CHINUA ACHEBEWhen old people speak it is not because of the sweetness of words in our mouths; it is because we see something which you do not see.
More Chinua Achebe Quotes
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Privilege, you see, is one of the great adversaries of the imagination; it spreads a thick layer of adipose tissue over our sensitivity.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
Africa is to Europe as the picture is to Dorian Gray-a carrier onto whom the master unloads his physical & moral deformities.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
A disease that has never been seen before cannot be cured with every-day herbs.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
The world is large,” said Okonkwo. “I have even heard that in some tribes a man’s children belong to his wife and her family.” “That cannot be,” said Machi. “You might as well say that the woman lies on top of the man when they are making the babies.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
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 -
The sun will shine on those who stand before it shines on those who kneel under them.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
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.
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 -
Procrastination is a lazy man’s apology.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
Women and music should not be dated.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
When a mad man walks naked, it is his kinsmen who feel shame, not himself.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
Charity is the opium of the privileged.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
A goat does not eat into a hen’s stomach no matter how friendly the two may be.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
If you have leaders who are prepared to incite group against group it is very easy to manufacture reasons and excuses.
CHINUA ACHEBE -
Each of my books is different. Deliberately. I wanted to create my society, my people, in their fullness.
CHINUA ACHEBE