“Every lizard lies on its belly, so we cannot tell which has a belly-ache”

Most writers who are beginners, if they are honest with themselves, will admit that they are praying for a readership as they begin to write. But it should be the quality of the craft, not the audience, that should be the greatest motivating factor.

When a tradition gathers enough strength to go on for centuries, you don’t just turn it off one day.

He is a fool who treats his brother worse than a stranger.

Nobody can teach me who I am.

A man who pays respect to the great paves the way for his own greatness

Dancing is very important nowadays. No girl will look at you if you can’t dance.

The price a world language must be prepared to pay is submission to many different kinds of use.

Each of my books is different. Deliberately. I wanted to create my society, my people, in their fullness.

If a child washed his hands, he could eat with kings.

The man that brings ant-infested faggots into his hut should not grumble when lizards begin to pay him a visit.

As a rule I don’t like suffering to no purpose. Suffering should be creative, should give birth to something good and lovely.

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.

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.

While we do our good works let us not forget that the real solution lies in a world in which charity will have become unnecessary.

We do not seek to hurt any man, but if any man seeks to hurt us may he break his neck.

An artist in my view is always afraid of extremists; he is always afraid of those who claim to have found the ultimate solution to any question.