Chinua Achebe
Chinua Achebe
Chinua Achebewas a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and critic. His first novel Things Fall Apartwas considered his magnum opus, and is the most widely read book in modern African literature...
NationalityNigerian
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth16 November 1930
CityOgidi, Nigeria
CountryNigeria
strong powerful gun
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.
men missing mark
Men have learned to shoot without missing their mark and I have learned to fly without perching on a twig.
puzzles
...Nothing puzzles God
men okonkwo people
At the most one could say that his chi or ... personal god was good. But the Ibo people have a proverb that when a man says yes his chi says yes also. Okonkwo said yes very strongly; so his chi agreed.
men bags every-man
Wisdom is like a goatskin bag; every man carries his own.
writing voice perspective
Writing has always been a serious business for me. I felt it was a moral obligation. A major concern of the time was the absence of the African voice. Being part of that dialogue meant not only sitting at the table but effectively telling the African story from an African perspective - in full earshot of the world.
brother thought-provoking fool
He is a fool who treats his brother worse than a stranger.
men lizards pay
The man that brings ant-infested faggots into his hut should not grumble when lizards begin to pay him a visit.
men thought-provoking down-and
The language of young men is pull down and destroy; but an old man speaks of conciliation.
writing men thinking
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.
eagles wings kites
Let the kite perch and let the eagle perch too – If one says no to the other, let his wing break.
men lips doe
A man who does not lick his lips, can he blame the harmattan for drying them?
men mad naked
When a mad man walks naked, it is his kinsmen who feel shame, not himself.
art humanity serious
Serious and good art has always existed to help, to serve, humanity. Not to indict.