The world is like a Mask dancing. If you want to see it well, you do not stand in one place.
CHINUA ACHEBEThe world is like a Mask dancing. If you want to see it well, you do not stand in one place.
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.’
CHINUA ACHEBEIf you only hear one side of the story, you have no understanding at all.
CHINUA ACHEBEA goat does not eat into a hen’s stomach no matter how friendly the two may be.
CHINUA ACHEBEIt 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.
CHINUA ACHEBEWhenever you see a toad jumping in broad daylight, then know that something is after its life.
CHINUA ACHEBEI prefer to go on trying all kinds of things, not to be told, This is the way it is done.
CHINUA ACHEBEOne reason why I am quite angry with what is happening in Nigeria today is that everything has collapsed. If I decide to go back now, there will be so many problems – where will I find the physical therapy and other things that I now require?
CHINUA ACHEBEThe 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!
CHINUA ACHEBEPeople 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.
CHINUA ACHEBEIf one finger brings oil it soils the others.
CHINUA ACHEBEMost 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.
CHINUA ACHEBEIt is praiseworthy to be brave and fearless, but sometimes it is better to be a coward. We often stand in the compound of a coward to point at the ruins where a brave man used to live.
CHINUA ACHEBEThe world is large,” said Okonkwo. “I have even heard that in some tribes a man’s children belong to his wife and her family.” “That cannot be,” said Machi. “You might as well say that the woman lies on top of the man when they are making the babies.
CHINUA ACHEBEDo 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.
CHINUA ACHEBEIt has always been quite apparent to me that no important story can fail to tell us something of value to us.
CHINUA ACHEBE