Beware Okonkwo!" she warned. "Beware of exchanging words with Agbala. Does a man speak when a god speaks? Beware! Chinua Achebe More Quotes by Chinua Achebe More Quotes From Chinua Achebe You don't ever want to say to a young person, You can't, or, You are no good. Some people might be able to do it, but I don't think I am a policeman for literature. So I tell them, Sweat it out, do your best. Chinua Achebe sweatpeoplethinking What a man does not know is greater than he. Chinua Achebe thought-provokingdoemen 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 grimefightingearth Diversity is not an abnormality but the very reality of our planet. The human world manifests the same reality and will not seek our permission to celebrate itself in the magnificence of its endless varieties. Civility is a sensible attribute in this kind of world we have; narrowness of heart and mind is not. Chinua Achebe diversityheartreality ...Nothing puzzles God Chinua Achebe puzzles Actually, I identify with all my characters, good and bad. I have to do that in order to make them genuine. I have to understand them even if I don't approve of them. Not completely - it's impossible; complete identification is, in fact, not desirable. Chinua Achebe characterorderfacts As our fathers said, you can tell a ripe corn by its look. Chinua Achebe cornfatherlooks An old woman is always uneasy when dry bones are mentioned in a proverb Chinua Achebe dry-bonesokonkwothings-fall-apart-important Most 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. Chinua Achebe craftsqualitywriting Women and music should not be dated. Chinua Achebe should 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 differentpeculiaruse I teach literature. That's easy for me. Take someone else's work and talk about it. Chinua Achebe teachliteratureeasy Even the village rain-maker no longer claimed to be able to intervene. He could not stop the rain now, just as he would not attempt to start it in the heart of the dry season, without serious danger to his own health. Chinua Achebe villagerainheart The women are, of course, the biggest single group of oppressed people in the world and, if we are to believe the Book of Genesis, the very oldest. Chinua Achebe believebookpeople I think that is one of the first things that I got clear in my mind when I began to play around with fiction, that I had to find a language and it was not in existance at the time. You have put it very well - it wasn't to be taken for granted. You had to go on and search until you found a way through the conversation of English and Igbo. The two languages stuck into each other and tried to find a way to express through one, the medium of the thoughts. That's a very exciting thing to do, a very difficult thing to do. Chinua Achebe takenplaythinking I'm a practised writer now. But when I began, I had no idea what this was going to be. I just knew that there was something inside me that wanted me to tell who I was, and that would have come out even if I didn't want it. Chinua Achebe no-ideawantideas If you were to loose the habit of making the effort to get the book and read the words one by one you would have lost something terribly important. So I think that we have a task to ensure that this doesn't happen. Chinua Achebe effortbookthinking When I began going to school and learned to read, I encountered stories of other people and other lands. Chinua Achebe landpeopleschool 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. Chinua Achebe machinespaperway There are things the story must have or else look incomplete. And these will almost automatically present themselves. When they don't, you are in trouble and then the novel stops. Chinua Achebe troublestorieslooks
