Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
After a war life catches desperately at passing hints of normalcy like vines entwining a hollow twig.
He who fights for a ne'er-do-well has nothing to show for it except a head covered in earth and grime.
I wouldn't have wanted anyone to teach me how to write. That's my own taste. I prefer to stumble on it.
When I began going to school and learned to read, I encountered stories of other people and other lands.
Nigeria has had a complicated colonial history. My work has examined that part of our story extensively.
Americans, it seems to me, tend to protect their children from the harshness of life, in their interest.
The singer should sing well even if it is merely to himself, rather than dance badly for the whole world.
Men have learned to shoot without missing their mark and I have learned to fly without perching on a twig.
...when we are comfortable and inattentive, we run the risk of committing grave injustices absentmindedly.
Each of my books is different. Deliberately... I wanted to create my society, my people, in their fullness.
The lizard that jumped from a high Iroko tree to the ground said he would praise himself if no-one else did.
It has always been quite apparent to me that no important story can fail to tell us something of value to us.
The man that brings ant-infested faggots into his hut should not grumble when lizards begin to pay him a visit.
Art is man's constant effort to create for himself a different order of reality from that which is given to him.
Beware Okonkwo!" she warned. "Beware of exchanging words with Agbala. Does a man speak when a god speaks? Beware!
A kinsman in trouble had to be saved, not blamed; anger against a brother was felt in the flesh, not in the bone.
What a country needs to do is be fair to all its citizens - whether people are of a different ethnicity or gender.
Anybody who wants to rule a group will find that if this group is quarreling among themselves they leave you alone.
As long as one people sit on another and are deaf to their cry, so long will understanding and peace elude all of us.
If you have leaders who are prepared to incite group against group it is very easy to manufacture reasons and excuses.
A man's life from birth to death was a series of transition rites which brought him nearer and nearer to his ancestors.
Every generation must recognize and embrace the task it is peculiarly designed by history and by providence to perform.
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.
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.
Among the Igbo the art of conversation is regarded very highly, and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten.
A pen on paper is the ideal way for me. I am not really very comfortable with machines; I never learned to type very well.
Africa is to Europe as the picture is to Dorian Gray-a carrier onto whom the master unloads his physical & moral deformities
As a rule I don't like suffering to no purpose. Suffering should be creative, should give birth to something good and lovely.
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.
An artist, in my understanding of the word, should side with the people against the Emperor that oppresses his or her people.
The most awful thing about power is not that it corrupts absolutely but that it makes people so utterly boring, so predictable.
You must develop the habit of skepticism, not swallow every piece of superstition you are told by witch-doctors and professors.
The relationship with my people, the Nigerian people, is very good. My relationship with the rulers has always been problematic.
There is no story that is not true, [...] The world has no end, and what is good among one people is an abomination with others.
The emperor would prefer the poet to keep away from politics, the emperor's domain, so that he can manage things the way he likes.
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.
Nobody can teach me who I am. You can describe parts of me, but who I am - and what I need - is something I have to find out myself.
People say that if you find water rising up to your ankle, that's the time to do something about it, not when it's around your neck.
There is that great proverb — that until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.
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.
A functioning, robust democracy requires a healthy educated, participatory followership, and an educated, morally grounded leadership.
I don't care about age very much. I think back to the old people I knew when I was growing up, and they always seemed larger than life.
The rural areas have been deprived by the cities in the past. Development resources and energy should be directed where the people live.
Privilege, you see, is one of the great adversaries of the imagination; it spreads a thick layer of adipose tissue over our sensitivity.
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.
Age was respected among his people, but achievement was revered. As the elders said, if a child washed his hands he could eat with kings.
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.
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.
The writer cannot expect to be excused from the task of reeducation and regeneration that must be done. In fact, he should march right in front.
I know that an important message is not a novel. To say that we should all be kind to our neighbors is an important statement; it's not a novel.