If a child washed his hands, he could eat with kings.
CHINUA ACHEBEWe 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.’
More Chinua Achebe Quotes
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It is the storyteller who makes us what we are, who creates history. The storyteller creates the memory that the survivors must have – otherwise their surviving would have no meaning.
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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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We do not seek to hurt any man, but if any man seeks to hurt us may he break his neck.
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Women and music should not be dated.
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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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There is no story that is not true.
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Storytellers 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.
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There is nothing to fear from someone who shouts.
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No matter how prosperous a man was, if he was unable to rule his women and his children (and especially his women) he was not really a man.
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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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What a man does not know is greater than he.
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A man of worth never gets up to unsay what he said yesterday.
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Nigeria is what it is because its leaders are not what they should be.
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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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Every lizard lies on its belly, so we cannot tell which has a belly-ache
CHINUA ACHEBE