In Nigeria, there is energy, whether it is Lagos, which is sheer anarchy, but it is not lethargic. It is strong, even aggressive and if that energy could be directed to work it will produce really enormous results. Chinua Achebe More Quotes by Chinua Achebe More Quotes From Chinua Achebe 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 punishment oil land The rural areas have been deprived by the cities in the past. Development resources and energy should be directed where the people live. Chinua Achebe cities people past A man who does not lick his lips, can he blame the harmattan for drying them? Chinua Achebe lips doe men It's so easy to get into the same routine. A novel every two years; perhaps, improving technique. But I'm not interested in that. I'm interested in doing something fundamentally important--and therefore, it needs time. And what I've been doing, really, is avoiding this pressure to get into the habit of one novel a year. This is what is expected of novelists. And I have never been really too much concerned with doing what is expected of novelists, or writers, or artists. I want to do what I believe is important. Chinua Achebe artist writing believe I don't like to see mistakes on the typewriter. I like a perfect script. On the typewriter I will sometimes leave a phrase that is not right, not what I want, simply because to change it would be a bit messy. Chinua Achebe typewriters perfect mistake A toad does not run in the daytime for nothing Chinua Achebe toads doe running I think an artist, in my definition of that word, would not be someone who takes sides with the emperor against his powerless subjects. That's different from prescribing a way in which a writer should write. Chinua Achebe artist writing thinking I don't want to be the one to tell somebody, You will not make it, even though I know that the majority of those who come to me with their manuscripts are not really good enough. Chinua Achebe good-enough majority want If you're rooted to a spot, you miss a lot of the grace. So you keep moving, and this is the way I think the world's stories should be told - from many different perspectives. Chinua Achebe perspective moving thinking The market literature, which was particularly strong in Igboland, in Onitsha, today it is no longer strong. It is one of the victims of the civil war, that market was actually destroyed and at the end of the war a new Nigeria has struggled to come into being and I believe that what is probably going to replace the market literature might be the video, which they have taken to in a big way, creating dramas. So that may be the next thing way we will see coming out of the local basic level in our society. Chinua Achebe strong drama war Each of my books is different. Deliberately... I wanted to create my society, my people, in their fullness. Chinua Achebe different book people Writers don't give prescriptions. They give headaches! Chinua Achebe headache thought-provoking giving I grew up recognizing that there was nobody to give me any advice and that you do your best and if it's not good enough, someday you will come to terms with that. Chinua Achebe not-good-enough advice giving Serious and good art has always existed to help, to serve, humanity. Not to indict. Chinua Achebe serious humanity art When there is a big tree small ones climb on its back to reach the sun. Chinua Achebe bigs sun tree A disease that has never been seen before cannot be cured with every-day herbs. Chinua Achebe herbs disease What really worries me is that those who are in positions of power are not really affected by what we are writing. In the moral dialogue you want to start, you really want to involve the leaders. People ask me: "Why were you so bold as to publish A Man of the People? How did you think the Government was going to take it? You didn't know there was going to be a coup?" I said rather flippantly that nobody was going to read it anyway, so I wasn't likely to be fired from my official position. It's a distressing thought that we cannot engage our leaders in the kind of moral debate we need. Chinua Achebe writing men thinking The triumph of the written word is often attained when the writer achieves union and trust with the reader, who then becomes ready to be drawn into unfamiliar territory, walking in borrowed literary shoes so to speak, toward a deeper understanding of self or society, or of foreign peoples, cultures, and situations. Chinua Achebe shoes understanding self We know the potentiality of Nigeria and the talent and the resources and to see it having no effect on the lives of the people, on the infrastructure, the roads, the hospitals, the schools, seeing no effect of these talents, these recourses is very frustrating. But it is the result of the damage that was done to the country, especially during the various military regimes. Chinua Achebe military country school Wisdom is like a goatskin bag; every man carries his own. Chinua Achebe carrie bags men
