Quotes from Chinua Achebe

had said at the reconciliation meeting, that anger against a kinsman was felt in the flesh, not in the marrow

Ghana was a particularly relevant example for us subjects in the remaining colonies and dominions of the British Empire. There was a growing confidence, not just a feeling, that we would do just as well parting ways with Her Majesty's empire. If Ghana seemed more effective, as some of our people like to say, perhaps it was because she was smaller in size and neat, as if it was tied together more delicately by well-groomed, expert hands.

The poor of the world may be guilty of this and that particular fault or foolishness, but if we are fair we will admit that nothing they have done or left undone quite explains all the odds we see stacked up against them. We are sometimes tempted to look upon the poor as so many ne'er-do-wells we can simply ignore. But they will return to haunt our peace, because they are greater than their badge of suffering, because they are human.

Igbo sayings and proverbs are far more valuable to me as a human being in understanding the complexity of the world than the doctrinaire, self-righteous strain of the Christian faith I was taught.

There is a story, perhaps apocryphal, that a Biafran plane landed in another African country, and the pilot and all of the crew came out, and there was not a white man among them. The people of this other country—which is a stooge of France—couldn't comprehend a plane being landed without any white people. They said, "Where is the pilot? Where are the white people?" They arrested the crew, presuming there had been a rebellion in the air!

That we may accept a limitation on our actions but never, under no circumstances, must we accept restriction on our thinking.

When a man blasphemes, what do we do? Do we go and stop his mouth? No. We put our fingers into our ears to stop us hearing. This is a wise action.

Praise bounteous providence if you will that grants even an ogre a tiny glow-worm tenderness encapsulated in icy caverns of a cruel heart or else despair for in the very germ of that kindred love is lodged the perpetuity of evil

And immediately Okonkwo's eyes were opened and he saw the whole matter clearly. Living fire begets cold, impotent ash. He sighed again, deeply.

When you have paid a hundred and thirty pounds bride-price and you are only a second-class clerk, you find you haven't got any more to spare on other women.

How can a man who has killed five men in a battle fall to pieces because he has added a boy to their family number? Okonkwo, you have become a woman indeed.

A proud heart can survive a general failure because such a failure does not prick its pride.

Orthodoxy whether of the right or of the left is the graveyard of creativity.

I felt so bad I did not need any further comfort for myself.

His mind, never content with shallow satisfactions, crept to the brink of knowing. What kind of power was it if it would never be used?

Un coeur fier peut survivre à un échec général parce qu'un tel échec ne blesse pas son orgueil. C'est plus difficile et plus amer quand un homme échoue tout seul.

But it was like beginning life anew without the vigor and enthusiasm of youth, like learning to become left-handed in old age.

The point in all this is that language is a handy whipping boy to summon and belabor when we have failed in some serious way. In other words, we play politics with language, and in so doing conceal the reality and the complexity of our situation from ourselves and from those foolish enough to put their trust in us.

There is no story that is not true," said Uchendu. "The world has no end, and what is good among one people is an abomination with others.

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

Ghana and Nigeria resented each other and competed for supremacy in every sphere—politics, academia, sports, you name it.

In the end I began to understand. There is such a thing as absolute power over narrative. Those who secure this privilege for themselves can arrange stories about others pretty much where, and as, they like. Just as in corrupt, totalitarian regimes, those who exercise power over others can do anything. They can bring out crowds of demonstrators whenever they need them.

A fox must be chased away first; after that the hen might be warned against wandering into the bush.

Clearly there is no moral obligation to write in any particular way. But there is a moral obligation, I think, not to ally oneself with power against the powerless.