For me, being in prison writing in an African language was a way of saying: "Even if you put me in prison, I will keep on writing in the language which made you put me in prison." — Ngugi wa Thiong'o Copy Share Image
I was wondering why I was put in prison for working in an African language when I had not been put in prison for working in English. So really, in prison I started thinking more seriously about the relation between… — Ngugi 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… — Ngugi wa Thiong'o Copy Share Image
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… — Ngugi wa Thiong'o Copy Share Image
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… — Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o Copy Share Image
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
