If you don’t like someone’s story, write your own. If you don’t like what somebody says, say what it is you don’t like.
CHINUA ACHEBEProcrastination is a lazy man’s apology.
More Chinua Achebe Quotes
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Let the kite perch and let the eagle perch too – If one says no to the other, let his wing break.
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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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There is nothing to fear from someone who shouts.
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Now one of the changes that must come to Africa is the idea of limited rule, I mean in term of how long one leader can stay in power. The era of president for life is not gone yet but it is on its way out and that is one of the problems with Mugabe and others.
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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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Africa is to Europe as the picture is to Dorian Gray-a carrier onto whom the master unloads his physical & moral deformities.
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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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If you have leaders who are prepared to incite group against group it is very easy to manufacture reasons and excuses.
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When a mad man walks naked, it is his kinsmen who feel shame, not himself.
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Do not be in a hurry to rush into the pleasures of the world like the young antelope who danced herself lame when the main dance was yet to come.
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A child cannot pay for its mother’s milk.
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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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When a coward sees a man he can beat he becomes hungry for a fight.
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If a child washed his hands, he could eat with kings.
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If you don’t like someone’s story, write your own.
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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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He is a fool who treats his brother worse than a stranger.
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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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Each of my books is different. Deliberately. I wanted to create my society, my people, in their fullness.
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I think back to the old people I knew when I was growing up, and they always seemed larger than life.
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A man who makes trouble for others is also making trouble for himself.
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When an old man dies, a library burns to the ground.
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Dancing is very important nowadays. No girl will look at you if you can’t dance.
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Wisdom is like a goatskin bag; every man carries his own.
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When brothers fight to death a stranger inherit their father’s estate.
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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