Top 200 Chinua Achebe Quotes (2023 Update)
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101. “Almost nobody dances sober, unless they happen to be insane. H. P. LOVECRAFT, attributed, Telling It Like It Is Dancing is very important nowadays. No girl will look at you if you can’t dance.”

— Chinua Achebe

102. “It always surprised him when he thought of it later that he did not sink under the load of despair.”

— Chinua Achebe

103. “When a new saying gets to the land of empty men, they lose their heads over it.”

— Chinua Achebe

104. “Once you allow yourself to identify with the people in a story, then you might begin to see yourself in that story even if on the surface it’s far removed from your situation.”

— Chinua Achebe

105. “No man however great is greater than his people.”

— Chinua Achebe

106. “What a country needs to do is be fair to all its citizens – whether people are of a different ethnicity or gender.”

— Chinua Achebe

107. “The language of young men is pull down and destroy; but an old man speaks of conciliation.”

— Chinua Achebe

108. “Writers don’t give prescriptions. They give headaches!”

— Chinua Achebe

109. “Have you not heard that when two brothers fight a stranger reaps the harvest?”

— Chinua Achebe

110. “The price a world language must be prepared to pay is submission to many different kinds of use. The African writer should aim to use English in a way that brings out his message best without altering the language to the extent that its value as a medium of international exchange will be lost. He should aim at fashioning out an English which is at once universal and able to carry his peculiar experience.”

— Chinua Achebe

111. “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.”

— Chinua Achebe

112. “Don’t disparage the day that still has an hour of light in its hand.”

— Chinua Achebe

113. “Real tragedy is never resolved. It goes on hopelessly for ever.”

— Chinua Achebe

114. “A chief does not hurry.”

— Chinua Achebe

115. “It is difficult to express the reality of Ibo society in classical English.”

— Chinua Achebe

116. “When I began going to school and learned to read, I encountered stories of other people and other lands.”

— Chinua Achebe

117. “In my definition I am a protest writer, with restraint.”

— Chinua Achebe

118. “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.”

— Chinua Achebe

119. “We shall all live. We pray for life, children, a good harvest and happiness. You will have what is good for you and I will have what is good for me. Let the kite perch and let the egret perch too. If one says no to the other, let his wing break.”

— Chinua Achebe

120. “In dealing with a man who thinks you are a fool, it is good sometimes to remind him that you know what he knows but have chosen to appear foolish for the sake of peace.”

— Chinua Achebe

121. “A person who has not secured a place on the floor should not begin to look for a mat.”

— Chinua Achebe

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

— Chinua Achebe

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

— Chinua Achebe

124. “As long as one people sit on another and are deaf to their cry, so long will understanding and peace elude all of us.”

— Chinua Achebe

125. “We have heard stories about white men who make the powerful guns and the strong drinks and took slaves away across the seas, but no one thought the stories were true.”

— Chinua Achebe

126. “He who fights for a ne’er-do-well has nothing to show for it except a head covered in earth and grime.”

— Chinua Achebe

127. “Fortunately, among these people a man was judged according to his worth and not according to the worth of his father.”

— Chinua Achebe

128. “If the clan did not exact punishment for an offense against the great goddess, her wrath was loosed on all the land and not just on the offender. As the elders said, if one finger brought oil it soiled all the others.”

— Chinua Achebe

129. “We do not ask for wealth because he that has health and children will also have wealth. We do not pray to have money but to have more kinsmen. We are better than animals because we have kinsmen. An animal rubs its itching flank against a tree, a man asks his kinsman to scratch him.”

— Chinua Achebe

130. “Having spoken plainly so far, Okoye said the next half a dozen sentences in proverbs. Among the Ibo the art of conversation is regarded very highly, and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten.”

— Chinua Achebe

131. “A child cannot pay for its mother’s milk.”

— Chinua Achebe

132. “If we have any role at all, I think it’s the role of optimism, not blind or stupid optimism, but the kind which is meaningful, one that is rather close to that notion of the world which is not perfect, but which can be improved. In other words, we don’t just sit and hope that things will work out; we have a role to play to make that come about.”

— Chinua Achebe

133. “Looking at a king’s mouth, ′ said an old man, ’one would think he never sucked at his mother’s breast.”

— Chinua Achebe

134. “A snake was never called by its name at night, because it would hear. It was called a string.”

— Chinua Achebe

135. “And how is my daughter, Ezinma?” “She has been very well for some time now. Perhaps she has come to stay.” “I think she has. How old is she now?” “She is about ten years old.” “I think she will stay. They usually stay if they do not die before the age of six.” “I pray she stays,” said Ekwefi with a heavy sigh. The.”

— Chinua Achebe

136. “A functioning, robust democracy requires a healthy educated, participatory followership, and an educated, morally grounded leadership.”

— Chinua Achebe

137. “The air, which had been stretched taut with excitement, relaxed again.”

— Chinua Achebe

138. “After a war life catches desperately at passing hints of normalcy like vines entwining a hollow twig.”

— Chinua Achebe

139. “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.”

— Chinua Achebe

140. “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.”

— Chinua Achebe

141. “To show affection was a sign of weakness; the only thing worth demonstrating was strength.”

— Chinua Achebe

142. “Nigeria has had a complicated colonial history. My work has examined that part of our story extensively.”

— Chinua Achebe

143. “Mr. Brown had thought of nothing but numbers. He should have known that the kingdom of God did not depend on large crowds. Our Lord Himself stressed the importance of fewness. Narrow is the way and few the number. To fill the Lord’s holy temple with an idolatrous crowd clamoring for signs was a folly of everlasting consequence. Our Lord used the whip only once in His life – to drive the crowd away from His church.”

— Chinua Achebe

144. “When we hear a house has fallen do we ask if the ceiling fell with it?”

— Chinua Achebe

145. “I have so many ideas; there are so many things that need to be done, so many possibilities, you know; one is terribly excited, but at the same time, you’re almost confused, because you don’t know where to begin.”

— Chinua Achebe

146. “When there is a big tree small ones climb on its back to reach the sun.”

— Chinua Achebe

147. “Dancing is very important nowadays. No girl will look at you if you can’t dance.”

— Chinua Achebe

148. “The inquisitive monkey gets a bullet in the face.”

— Chinua Achebe

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

— Chinua Achebe

150. “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!”

— Chinua Achebe