--- title: "10 Way Quotes By Chris Abani" description: "10 Way quotes by Chris Abani. Plus more from Chris Abani and more Way sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/635/chris-abani-7393_always_i-love-essays-but-they-re-not-always-the_3110700.png" --- > [I love essays, but they're not always the best way to communicate to a larger audience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-abani/i-love-essays-but-they-re-not-always-the-best-way-to-communicate-to-a/) [Chris Abani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-abani/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/635/chris-abani-7393_always_i-love-essays-but-they-re-not-always-the_3110700.png) > [My search is always to find ways to chronicle, to share and to document stories about people, just everyday people. Stories that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-abani/my-search-is-always-to-find-ways-to-chronicle-to-share-and-to/) [Chris Abani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-abani/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb9/chris-abani-7393_about_my-search-is-always-to-find-ways-to-chro_1410706.png) > [I think that most writers who are trying to write important and difficult books are in many ways putting their own humanity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-abani/i-think-that-most-writers-who-are-trying-to-write-important-and/) [Chris Abani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-abani/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6b0/chris-abani-7393_book_i-think-that-most-writers-who-are-trying_786080.jpg) > [The truth is that History, with its imposing capital H, is simply the amalgamation of many quotidian lives lived in very ordinary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-abani/the-truth-is-that-history-with-its-imposing-capital-h-is-simply-the/) [Chris Abani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-abani/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c35/chris-abani-7393_amalgamation_the-truth-is-that-history-with-its-impos_1796797.png) > [Unlike other books or TV shows or sometimes life, my narrative worlds are stripped of implicit moral centers. There is only what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-abani/unlike-other-books-or-tv-shows-or-sometimes-life-my-narrative-worlds/) [Chris Abani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-abani/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a61/chris-abani-7393_book_unlike-other-books-or-tv-shows-or-someti_324952.png) > [Here's the thing: You rescue us every day in small, quiet ways, so why not in this way? Let us into your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-abani/here-s-the-thing-you-rescue-us-every-day-in-small-quiet-ways-so-why/) [Chris Abani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-abani/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/547/chris-abani-7393_every-day_here-s-the-thing-you-rescue-us-every-day_2318197.png) > [The Internet is really our meeting place. We have this amazing listserv. Every time I log onto it I feel a sense…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-abani/the-internet-is-really-our-meeting-place-we-have-this-amazing/) [Chris Abani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-abani/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/429/chris-abani-7393_average_the-internet-is-really-our-meeting-place_1561666.png) > [I think that those of us who are ordinary disappear easily into the backdrop of life and we take things for granted.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-abani/i-think-that-those-of-us-who-are-ordinary-disappear-easily-into-the/) [Chris Abani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-abani/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/177/chris-abani-7393_backdrop_i-think-that-those-of-us-who-are-ordinar_825910.jpg) > [What I've come to learn is that the world is never saved in grand messianic gestures, but in the simple accumulation of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-abani/what-i-ve-come-to-learn-is-that-the-world-is-never-saved-in-grand/) [Chris Abani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-abani/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/766/chris-abani-7393_accumulation_what-i-ve-come-to-learn-is-that-the-worl_1991917.jpg) > [Literature is an aspect of story and story is all that exists to make sense of reality. War is a story. Now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-abani/literature-is-an-aspect-of-story-and-story-is-all-that-exists-to-make/) [Chris Abani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-abani/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/848/chris-abani-7393_action_literature-is-an-aspect-of-story-and-sto_2410619.jpg) ## Other authors on Way ## More by Chris Abani > [“Story is powerful. Story is fluid and it belongs to nobody.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-abani/story-is-powerful-story-is-fluid-and-it-belongs-to-nobody/) [Chris Abani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-abani/) > [“as his mother told Grandma Marie, there are no words for some”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-abani/as-his-mother-told-grandma-marie-there-are-no-words-for-some/) [Chris Abani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-abani/) > [I think it's an aggregation of all of the small acts that are really transformative. I think a group of small acts transform the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-abani/i-think-it-s-an-aggregation-of-all-of-the-small-acts-that-are-really/) [Chris Abani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-abani/) > [“... it's the agents of our imagination who really shape who we are.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-abani/it-s-the-agents-of-our-imagination-who-really-shape-who-we-are/) [Chris Abani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-abani/) > [“He too, it seemed, had come to believe that he could somehow escape history. That it was possible, and even desirable, to live in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-abani/he-too-it-seemed-had-come-to-believe-that-he-could-somehow-escape/) [Chris Abani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-abani/) > [My mom taught me to read when I was two or three. When I was five I read and wrote well enough to do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-abani/my-mom-taught-me-to-read-when-i-was-two-or-three-when-i-was-five-i/) [Chris Abani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-abani/) > [You know, you can steel your heart against any kind of trouble, any kind of horror. But the simple act of kindness from a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-abani/you-know-you-can-steel-your-heart-against-any-kind-of-trouble-any/) [Chris Abani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-abani/) > [Fiction is more dangerous than nonfiction because it can seduce better. I think we all know this, know that deeper truths can be approached…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-abani/fiction-is-more-dangerous-than-nonfiction-because-it-can-seduce/) [Chris Abani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-abani/) > [My grand uncle was a traditional priest, and he would always say to me as a kid, 'We stand in our own light,' which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-abani/my-grand-uncle-was-a-traditional-priest-and-he-would-always-say-to-me/) [Chris Abani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-abani/) > [Unlike other books or TV shows or sometimes life, my narrative worlds are stripped of implicit moral centers. There is only what you bring.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-abani/unlike-other-books-or-tv-shows-or-sometimes-life-my-narrative-worlds/) [Chris Abani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-abani/) > [Nigerians are everywhere. There's an old joke, particularly about the Ibos, that when you finally land on Mars, you're going to find a Nigerian…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-abani/nigerians-are-everywhere-there-s-an-old-joke-particularly-about-the/) [Chris Abani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-abani/) > [“Circuses are about entertainment and juggling and animals and all that shit. Sideshows are about freaks, about people and the limits of acceptability. We…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-abani/circuses-are-about-entertainment-and-juggling-and-animals-and-all/) [Chris Abani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-abani/) > [It takes me forever to actually finish something like a ten-page essay. But, when I do, I usually love what they are. It's a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-abani/it-takes-me-forever-to-actually-finish-something-like-a-ten-page/) [Chris Abani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-abani/) > [I had amazing intellectual privilege as a kid. My mom taught me to read when I was two or three. When I was five,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-abani/i-had-amazing-intellectual-privilege-as-a-kid-my-mom-taught-me-to/) [Chris Abani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-abani/) > [If you want to know about Africa, read our literature - and not just 'Things Fall Apart,' because that would be like saying, 'I've…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-abani/if-you-want-to-know-about-africa-read-our-literature-and-not-just/) [Chris Abani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-abani/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/way/chris-abani/#itemlist", "name": "10 Way Quotes By Chris Abani", "numberOfItems": 10, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I love essays, but they're not always the best way to communicate to a larger audience.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Chris Abani" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-abani/i-love-essays-but-they-re-not-always-the-best-way-to-communicate-to-a/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/635/chris-abani-7393_always_i-love-essays-but-they-re-not-always-the_3110700.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/635/chris-abani-7393_always_i-love-essays-but-they-re-not-always-the_3110700.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/635/chris-abani-7393_always_i-love-essays-but-they-re-not-always-the_3110700.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I love essays, but they're not always the best way to communicate to a larger audience.” — Chris Abani", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "My search is always to find ways to chronicle, to share and to document stories about people, just everyday people. 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Sometimes the journey is finding out where you stand in relationship to your own humanity and to the humanity of others.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Chris Abani" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-abani/i-think-that-most-writers-who-are-trying-to-write-important-and/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6b0/chris-abani-7393_book_i-think-that-most-writers-who-are-trying_786080.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6b0/chris-abani-7393_book_i-think-that-most-writers-who-are-trying_786080.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6b0/chris-abani-7393_book_i-think-that-most-writers-who-are-trying_786080.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I think that most writers who are trying to write important and difficult books are in many ways putting…” — Chris Abani", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The truth is that History, with its imposing capital H, is simply the amalgamation of many quotidian lives lived in very ordinary ways. History is always personal. If you read Holocaust survivor or American slavery survivor narratives, you realize all too well that these great Historical moments were personal to someone at some time.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Chris Abani" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-abani/the-truth-is-that-history-with-its-imposing-capital-h-is-simply-the/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c35/chris-abani-7393_amalgamation_the-truth-is-that-history-with-its-impos_1796797.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c35/chris-abani-7393_amalgamation_the-truth-is-that-history-with-its-impos_1796797.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c35/chris-abani-7393_amalgamation_the-truth-is-that-history-with-its-impos_1796797.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The truth is that History, with its imposing capital H, is simply the amalgamation of many quotidian lives…” — Chris Abani", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Unlike other books or TV shows or sometimes life, my narrative worlds are stripped of implicit moral centers. There is only what you bring. That makes the characters risky in every way and the narrative, a journey of change for the reader. But I make the journey as fun as I can.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Chris Abani" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-abani/unlike-other-books-or-tv-shows-or-sometimes-life-my-narrative-worlds/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a61/chris-abani-7393_book_unlike-other-books-or-tv-shows-or-someti_324952.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a61/chris-abani-7393_book_unlike-other-books-or-tv-shows-or-someti_324952.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a61/chris-abani-7393_book_unlike-other-books-or-tv-shows-or-someti_324952.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Unlike other books or TV shows or sometimes life, my narrative worlds are stripped of implicit moral…” — Chris Abani", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 6, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Here's the thing: You rescue us every day in small, quiet ways, so why not in this way? Let us into your mystery, tell us how you would like to be loved, show us how to see you, really see you.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Chris Abani" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-abani/here-s-the-thing-you-rescue-us-every-day-in-small-quiet-ways-so-why/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/547/chris-abani-7393_every-day_here-s-the-thing-you-rescue-us-every-day_2318197.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/547/chris-abani-7393_every-day_here-s-the-thing-you-rescue-us-every-day_2318197.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/547/chris-abani-7393_every-day_here-s-the-thing-you-rescue-us-every-day_2318197.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Here's the thing: You rescue us every day in small, quiet ways, so why not in this way? Let us into your…” — Chris Abani", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 7, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The Internet is really our meeting place. We have this amazing listserv. Every time I log onto it I feel a sense of pride, because if you log on and say, \"Oh I was just in San Diego and I was in a park and I saw a lion,\" the flurry of replies on average is just like--wow! All these existential questions about what it means to be an African, and never having seen a lion at home, but having seen a lion here. Everything you say turns into this real philosophical debate--it's incredible in so many ways. And it's an invigorating place to be.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Chris Abani" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-abani/the-internet-is-really-our-meeting-place-we-have-this-amazing/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/429/chris-abani-7393_average_the-internet-is-really-our-meeting-place_1561666.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/429/chris-abani-7393_average_the-internet-is-really-our-meeting-place_1561666.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/429/chris-abani-7393_average_the-internet-is-really-our-meeting-place_1561666.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The Internet is really our meeting place. We have this amazing listserv. Every time I log onto it I feel a…” — Chris Abani", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 8, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I think that those of us who are ordinary disappear easily into the backdrop of life and we take things for granted. We often wake up in our lives and wonder how we got there. But the characters I create, the people I am drawn to, are quite extraordinary (and not always in wholesome ways), and they offer us the chance to understand who we really are and how we became who we are.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Chris Abani" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-abani/i-think-that-those-of-us-who-are-ordinary-disappear-easily-into-the/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/177/chris-abani-7393_backdrop_i-think-that-those-of-us-who-are-ordinar_825910.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/177/chris-abani-7393_backdrop_i-think-that-those-of-us-who-are-ordinar_825910.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/177/chris-abani-7393_backdrop_i-think-that-those-of-us-who-are-ordinar_825910.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I think that those of us who are ordinary disappear easily into the backdrop of life and we take things for…” — Chris Abani", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 9, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "What I've come to learn is that the world is never saved in grand messianic gestures, but in the simple accumulation of gentle, soft, almost invisible acts of compassion, everyday acts of compassion. In South Africa they have a phrase called ubuntu. Ubuntu comes out of a philosophy that says, the only way for me to be human is for you to reflect my humanity back at me.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Chris Abani" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-abani/what-i-ve-come-to-learn-is-that-the-world-is-never-saved-in-grand/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/766/chris-abani-7393_accumulation_what-i-ve-come-to-learn-is-that-the-worl_1991917.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/766/chris-abani-7393_accumulation_what-i-ve-come-to-learn-is-that-the-worl_1991917.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/766/chris-abani-7393_accumulation_what-i-ve-come-to-learn-is-that-the-worl_1991917.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“What I've come to learn is that the world is never saved in grand messianic gestures, but in the simple…” — Chris Abani", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 10, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Literature is an aspect of story and story is all that exists to make sense of reality. War is a story. Now you begin to see how powerful story is because it informs our worldview and our every action, our every justification is a story. So how can story not be truly transformative? I've seen it happen in real ways, not in sentimental ways or in the jargon of New Age liberal ideology.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Chris Abani" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-abani/literature-is-an-aspect-of-story-and-story-is-all-that-exists-to-make/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/848/chris-abani-7393_action_literature-is-an-aspect-of-story-and-sto_2410619.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/848/chris-abani-7393_action_literature-is-an-aspect-of-story-and-sto_2410619.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/848/chris-abani-7393_action_literature-is-an-aspect-of-story-and-sto_2410619.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Literature is an aspect of story and story is all that exists to make sense of reality. War is a story. 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