Chinua Achebe Provoking Quotations

Every lizard lies on its belly, so we cannot tell which has a belly-ache

What a man does not know is greater than he.

When we hear a house has fallen do we ask if the ceiling fell with it?

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

He is a fool who treats his brother worse than a stranger.

The language of young men is pull down and destroy; but an old man speaks of conciliation.

Writers don't give prescriptions. They give headaches!

If you don't like someone's story, write your own.

The only thing we have learnt from experience is that we learn nothing from experience.

It is praiseworthy to be brave and fearless, but sometimes it is better to be a coward. We often stand in the compound of a coward to point at the ruins where a brave man used to live.

When suffering knocks at your door and you say there is no seat for him, he tells you not to worry because he has brought his own stool.

The damage done in one year can sometimes take ten or twenty years to repair.

People say that if you find water rising up to your ankle, that's the time to do something about it, not when it's around your neck.

Nobody can teach me who I am. You can describe parts of me, but who I am - and what I need - is something I have to find out myself.

In dealing with a man who thinks you are a fool, it is good sometimes to remind him that you know what he knows but have chosen to appear foolish for the sake of peace.