Writing in African languages became a topic of discussion in conferences, in schools, in classrooms; the issue is always being raised - so it's no longer "in the closet," as it were. It's part of the discussion going on about… — Ngugi wa Thiong'o Copy Share Image
“If you know all the languages of the world and you don't know your mother tongue or the language of your culture, that is enslavement. But if you know your mother tongue or the languages of your culture, and add… — Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o Copy Share Image
What is translated from English and into English - and in what quantities - is a question of power. — Ngugi wa Thiong'o Copy Share Image
I think a repressive regime always fears people who are awakened - particularly ordinary people. If they are awakened, I think governments all over the world feel uncomfortable about that; they want to be in control. They want to be the ones telling people: "This is what we have done in history" but when people begin to say, "No this… — Ngugi wa Thiong'o Copy Share
“Words are the food, body, mirror, and sound of thought. Do you now see the danger of words that want to come out but… — Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o Copy Share Image
Why did Africa let Europe cart away millions of Africa's souls from the continent to the four corners of the wind? How could Europe lord it over a continent ten times its size? Why does needy Africa continue to let its wealth meet the needs of those outside its borders and then follow behind with hands outstretched for a loan… — Ngugi wa Thiong'o Copy Share
For me, being in prison writing in an African language was a way of saying: "Even if you put me in prison, I will… — Ngugi wa Thiong'o Copy Share Image
Our lives are a battlefield on which is fought a continuous war between the forces that are pledged to confirm our humanity and those determined to dismantle it; those who strive to build a protective wall around it, and those who wish to pull it down; those who seek to mould it and those committed to breaking it up; those… — Ngugi wa Thiong'o Copy Share
Christianity and Western civilization-what countless crimes have been committed in thy name! — Ngugi wa Thiong'o Copy Share Image
We think of politics in terms of power and who has the power. Politics is the end to which that power is put. — Ngugi wa Thiong'o Copy Share Image
“There was a time when slavery was good. It did its work, and when it finished creating capital it withered and died a natural death. Colonialism was good. It spread industrial culture of shared resources and markets. But to revive colonialism now would be an error. There was a time when the cold war dicated our every calculation in domestic… — Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o Copy Share
Many people do not know that Jesus did not speak Latin or English or Hebrew; he spoke Aramaic. But nobody knows that language. So… — Ngugi wa Thiong'o Copy Share Image
I'm writing for those people in Kenya, but in Irvine and in New York. — Ngugi wa Thiong'o Copy Share Image
“As she stared at them, Waringa noted that their skins were indeed red, like that of pigs or like the skin of a black… — Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o Copy Share Image
