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Thinking Quotes by Chinua Achebe

38 Thinking quotes by Chinua Achebe

All Thinking quotes Chinua Achebe’s page

Chinua Achebe believes Africa is slowly learning the need for responsible leadership. He warns against telling young people they can't, saying encouragement helps them grow. He also says stories let us discover who we are and what a culture values, so we should listen to many voices.

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I think back to the old people I knew when I was growing up, and they always seemed larger than life.

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I think once you have done all you can to a manuscript, let it find its way in the world.

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There is a moral obligation, I think, not to ally oneself with power against the powerless.

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One would think he never sucked at his mother’s breast.

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I think writers are not only writers, they are also citizens.

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Just think of the work you've set yourself to do, and do it as well as you can.

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I did not think of writing as a career and I don't think that I did this ever really, but I think…

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In dealing with a man who thinks you are a fool, it is good sometimes to remind him that you know what…

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Become familiar with your home, but know also about your neighbors. The young man who never went anywhere thinks his mother is…

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When I think of the standing, the importance and the erudition of all these people who see nothing about racism in Heart…

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If you're rooted to a spot, you miss a lot of the grace. So you keep moving, and this is the way…

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It is not quite true to say that I am not an advocate of writing in African languages. What I think is,…

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If you were to loose the habit of making the effort to get the book and read the words one by one…

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I think not just Nigeria but I think the whole of Africa has to turn back to the rural areas and that's…

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I think the language that we use in dealing with one another is very important. And even if I am called upon…

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When I'm writing, I really want to satisfy myself. I've got a story that I am working on and struggling with, and…

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I think Africa is slowly learning - and painfully - that importance of insisting on responsible leadership. It will come eventually, and…

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I think as you grow up and you see things which are around you and you ask questions and you hear the…

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I do not think that there need be the conflict between books and videos, that one would drive out the other. It…

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Naming is like putting a stamp on something and fixing it. A kind of formaldehyde sort of fixation, but it becomes dead,…

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I couldn't tell you why but now I know a story is in fact where you discover who you are, where a…

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Joseph Conrad was a thoroughgoing racist. That this simple truth is glossed over in criticisms of his work is due to the…

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I think that is one of the first things that I got clear in my mind when I began to play around…

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Those who are talking sharia in Nigeria are really just politicians exploiting what they think is available. But if it should turn…

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What has happened to Africa is very severe. We are talking about the collapse of this and the collapse of that, of…

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My books have done extremely well, I know. But I don't honestly feel much different from when I began to write. I…

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Unoka went into an inner room and soon returned with a small wooden disc containing a kola nut, some alligator pepper and…

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What really worries me is that those who are in positions of power are not really affected by what we are writing.…

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Some people flinch when you talk about art in the context of the needs of society thinking you are introducing something far…

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You don't ever want to say to a young person, You can't, or, You are no good. Some people might be able…

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I'm amazed when I think about students today. They know from day one what they are going to be. We didn't. We…

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I think an artist, in my definition of that word, would not be someone who takes sides with the emperor against his…

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I think dialects should be left alone. People should write in whatever dialect they feel they want to write. In the fullness…

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If you ask me, Now, is it your best book? I would say, I don't really know. I wouldn't even want to…

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I do not think that there is any time in our history when things were perfect. I do not expect such times…

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This is not pessimism but rather casting a cold eye on things. It is only one man's story, and I think that…

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Mosquito [...] had asked Ear to marry him, whereupon Ear fell on the floor in uncontrollable laughter. "How much longer do you…

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I believe in the complexity of the human story, and that there's no way you can tell that story in one way…

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More by Chinua Achebe

“In such a regime, I say you died a good death if your life had inspired someone to come forward and shoot your murdered…

“Do not despair. I know you will not despair. You have a manly and a proud heart. A proud heart can survive a general…

My son even if you want to fall, at least fall where your bones can be gathered

“And so Mr. Brown came to be respected even by the clan, because he trod softly on its faith.”

“I have learned that a man who makes trouble for others is also making it for himself.”

In fact, I thought that Christianity was very a good and a very valuable thing for us. But after a while, I began to…

I find Nigeria very frustrating. I am not alone in this. There are many Nigerians abroad. As you know, the brain drain is just…

I do not actually see how art, literature can be anything other that being in that domain of trying to tell us, trying to…

Democracy is not something you put away for ten years, and then in the 11th year you wake up and start practicing again. We…

When there is a big tree small ones climb on its back to reach the sun.

When I began going to school and learned to read, I encountered stories of other people and other lands. In one of my essays,…

Almost nobody dances sober, unless they happen to be insane. H. P. LOVECRAFT, attributed, Telling It Like It Is Dancing is very important nowadays.…

This is why I find racism impossible, because this is against humanity.

“Then listen to me,' he said and cleared his throat. 'It's true that a child belongs to its father. But when a father beats…

What you must accept is that your life is not going to be the same while you are writing.