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.
CHINUA ACHEBEThe man that brings ant-infested faggots into his hut should not grumble when lizards begin to pay him a visit.
More Chinua Achebe Quotes
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There is a moral obligation, I think, not to ally oneself with power against the powerless.
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Just think of the work you’ve set yourself to do, and do it as well as you can.
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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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We cannot trample upon the humanity of others without devaluing our own.
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No man however great is greater than his people.
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Every generation must find its mission and fulfill it, as Fanon said – or betray it. So it is not something that you can write up on the wall, saying this is what has to be done. Every generation has to discover what it needs to do.
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You do not know me,’ said Tortoise. ‘I am a changed man. I have learned that a man who makes trouble for others makes trouble for himself.
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And theories are no more than fictions which help us to make sense of experience and which are subject to disconfirmation when their explanations are no longer adequate.
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I prefer to go on trying all kinds of things, not to be told, This is the way it is done.
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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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In dealing with a man who thinks you are a fool, it is good sometimes to remind him that you know what he knows but have chosen to appear foolish for the sake of peace.
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The damage done in one year can sometimes take ten or twenty years to repair.
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When mother-cow is chewing grass its young ones watch its mouth
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A disease that has never been seen before cannot be cured with every-day herbs.
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If a child washed his hands, he could eat with kings.
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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.
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Charity is the opium of the privileged.
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Women and music should not be dated.
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The problem with leaderless uprisings taking over is that you don’t always know what you get at the other end. If you are not careful you could replace a bad government with one much worse!
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When an old man dies, a library burns to the ground.
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It is the story that owns and directs us. It is the thing that makes us different from cattle; it is the mark on the face that sets one people apart from their neighbors.
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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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One of the truest tests of integrity is its blunt refusal to be compromised.
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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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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.
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If you only hear one side of the story, you have no understanding at all.
CHINUA ACHEBE