When mother-cow is chewing grass its young ones watch its mouth
Storytellers are a threat. They threaten all champions of control, they frighten usurpers of the right-to-freedom of the human spirit — in state, in church or mosque, in party congress, in the university or wherever.
Looking at a king’s mouth, ‘ said an old man, ‘one would think he never sucked at his mother’s breast.
In such a regime, I say you died a good death if your life had inspired someone to come forward and shoot your murderer in the chest – without asking to be paid.
In such a regime, I say you died a good death if your life had inspired someone to come forward and shoot your murdered in the chest – without asking to be paid.
Among the Igbo the art of conversation is regarded very highly, and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten.
A man who pays respect to the great paves the way for his own greatness
When the moon is shining the cripple becomes hungry for a walk
Every generation must recognize and embrace the task it is peculiarly designed by history and by providence to perform.
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.
A snake was never called by its name at night, because it would hear. It was called a string.
As our fathers said, you can tell a ripe corn by its look.
I do not know how to thank you.”I can tell you,’ said Obierika. ‘Kill one of your sons for me.”That will not be enough,’ said Okonkwo.’Then kill yourself,’ said Obierika.
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.
The impatient idealist says: ‘Give me a place to stand and I shall move the earth.’ But such a place does not exist. We all have to stand on the earth itself and go with her at her pace.
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.
It always surprised him when he thought of it later that he did not sink under the load of despair.
The people you see in Nigeria today have always lived as neighbors in the same space for as long as we can remember. So it’s a matter of settling down, lowering the rhetoric, the level of hostility in the rhetoric is too high.
When a tradition gathers enough strength to go on for centuries, you don’t just turn it off one day.
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.
In fact, I thought that Christianity was very a good and a very valuable thing for us. But after a while, I began to feel that the story that I was told about this religion wasn’t perhaps completely whole, that something was left out.
People from different parts of the world can respond to the same story if it says something to them about their own history and their own experience.
Nigeria has had a complicated colonial history. My work has examined that part of our story extensively.
The only thing we have learnt from experience is that we learn nothing from experience.
A functioning, robust democracy requires a healthy educated, participatory followership, and an educated, morally grounded leadership.
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!
The relationship with my people, the Nigerian people, is very good. My relationship with the rulers has always been problematic.
Each of my books is different. Deliberately… I wanted to create my society, my people, in their fullness.