No matter how prosperous a man was, if he was unable to rule his women and his children (and especially his women) he was not really a man.
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.
More Chinua Achebe Quotes
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A man of worth never gets up to unsay what he said yesterday.
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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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I am against people reaping where they have not sown. But we have a saying that if you want to eat a toad you should look for a fat and juicy one.
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Every generation must recognize and embrace the task it is peculiarly designed by history and by providence to perform.
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Art is man’s constant effort to create for himself a different order of reality from that which is given to him.
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The lizard that jumped from a high Iroko tree to the ground said he would praise himself if no-one else did.
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When suffering knocks at your door and you say there is no seat for him, he tells you not to worry because he has brought his own stool.
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When an old man dies, a library burns to the ground.
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There is nothing to fear from someone who shouts.
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If a child washed his hands, he could eat with kings.
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There is a moral obligation, I think, not to ally oneself with power against the powerless.
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We 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.’
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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 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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A coward may cover the ground with his words but when the time comes to fight he runs away.
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A child cannot pay for its mother’s milk.
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People create stories create people; or rather stories create people create stories.
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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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If one finger brings oil it soils the others.
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Nigeria is what it is because its leaders are not what they should be.
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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.
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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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When brothers fight to death a stranger inherit their father’s estate.
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Wisdom is like a goatskin bag; every man carries his own.
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I don’t like to see mistakes on the typewriter. I like a perfect script. On the typewriter I will sometimes leave a phrase that is not right, not what I want, simply because to change it would be a bit messy.
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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.
CHINUA ACHEBE