Privilege, you see, is one of the great adversaries of the imagination; it spreads a thick layer of adipose tissue over our sensitivity.
CHINUA ACHEBEThere is nothing to fear from someone who shouts.
More Chinua Achebe Quotes
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A man who makes trouble for others is also making trouble for himself.
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When a mad man walks naked, it is his kinsmen who feel shame, not himself.
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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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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.
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The man that brings ant-infested faggots into his hut should not grumble when lizards begin to pay him a visit.
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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.
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The world is like a Mask dancing. If you want to see it well, you do not stand in one place.
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When 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.
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If one finger brings oil it soils the others.
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The sun will shine on those who stand before it shines on those who kneel under them.
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When mother-cow is chewing grass its young ones watch its mouth
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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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People create stories create people; or rather stories create people create stories.
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The only thing we have learnt from experience is that we learn nothing from experience.
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There is no story that is not true.
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No man however great is greater than his people.
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My son even if you want to fall, at least fall where your bones can be gathered.
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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 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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A man of worth never gets up to unsay what he said yesterday.
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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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When brothers fight to death a stranger inherit their father’s estate.
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We shall all live. We pray for life, children, a good harvest and happiness. You will have what is good for you and I will have what is good for me. Let the kite perch and let the egret perch too. If one says no to the other, let his wing break.
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There is that great proverb – that until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.
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Dancing is very important nowadays. No girl will look at you if you can’t dance.
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In fact, I thought that Christianity was very a good and a very valuable thing for us. But after a while, I began to feel that the story that I was told about this religion wasn’t perhaps completely whole, that something was left out.
CHINUA ACHEBE