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Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Quotes

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Famous Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Quotes

“Chudi ne t’ « aide » pas quand il s’occupe de son enfant. Il fait ce qu’il est censé faire. Quand nous disons que les pères « aident », nous suggérons que s’occuper des enfants est un territoire appartenant aux mères, dans lequel les pères s’aventurent vaillamment. Ce n’est pas le cas. Tu imagines le nombre de personnes qui seraient aujourd’hui plus heureuses, plus stables, et qui contribueraient bien mieux à la société si leur père avait participé activement à leur enfance ?”

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Book:Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions
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“Chudi ne mérite nulle louange ou gratitude particulières, et toi non plus d’ailleurs : vous avez tous les deux choisi de mettre un enfant au monde, et la responsabilité de cet enfant vous appartient à tous les deux à parts égales. Ce serait différent si tu étais mère célibataire, que ce soit par choix ou par la force des choses, parce que tu n’aurais pas alors la possibilité de « faire les choses ensemble ». Mais tu ne devrais pas agir en « mère célibataire » si tu n’en es pas réellement une.”

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Book:Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions
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“Je me souviens que, petite, on me disait de « me baisser comme il faut pour balayer, comme une fille ». Ce qui signifiait que balayer était un truc de fille. J’aurais préféré qu’on me dise simplement : « baisse-toi et balaie comme il faut, parce que le sol sera plus propre ainsi. » Et j’aurais préféré qu’on dise la même chose à mes frères.”

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Book:Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions
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“A las niñas les decimos: Puedes tener ambición, pero no demasiada. Debes intentar tener éxito, pero no demasiado, porque entonces estarás amenazando a los hombres. Si tú eres el sostén económico en tu relación con un hombre, finge que no lo eres, sobre todo en público, porque si no lo estarás castrando. [...] ¿Por qué el éxito de una mujer ha de ser una amenaza para un hombre?”

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Book:We Should All Be Feminists
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“There are people who say, 'Well, your name is also about patriarchy because it is your father's name.' Indeed. But the point is simply this: whether it came from my father or from the moon, it is the name that I have had since I was born, the name with which I travelled my life's milestones, the name I have answered to since the first day I went to kindergarten in Nsukka on a hazy morning and my teacher said, 'Answer "present" if you hear your name. Number one: Adichie!'.”

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Book:Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions
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“Teach her about difference. Make difference ordinary. Make difference normal. Teach her not to attach value to difference. And the reason for this is not to be fair or to be nice but merely to be human and practical. Because difference is the reality of our world. And by teaching her about difference, you are equipping her to survive in a diverse world. She must know and understand that people walk different paths in the world and that as long as those paths do no harm to others, they are valid paths that she must respect. Teach her that we do not know – we cannot know – everything about life. Both religion and science have spaces for the things we do not know, and it is enough to make peace with that. Teach her never to universalise her own standards or experiences. Teach her that her standards are for her alone, and not for other people. This is the only necessary form of humility: the realisation that difference is normal.”

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Book:Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions
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“In America, racism exists but racists are all gone. Racists belong to the past. Racists are the thin-lipped mean white people in the movies about the civil rights era. Here's the thing: the manifestation of racism has changed but the language has not. So if you haven't lynched somebody then you can't be called a racist. If you're not a bloodsucking monster, then you can't be called a racist. Somebody has to be able to say that racists are not monsters.”

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Author:Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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“All over the world, girls are raised to be make themselves likeable, to twist themselves into shapes that suit other people. Please do not twist yourself into shapes to please. Don't do it. If someone likes that version of you, that version of you that is false and holds back, then they actually just like that twisted shape, and not you. And the world is such a gloriously multifaceted, diverse place that there are people in the world who will like you, the real you, as you are.”

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Author:Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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“I didn't want to be apologetic about my love story, and I think to be willing to write about love you have to be willing to sound foolish. I wanted to write about foolish and goofy love and different relationships. I wanted to write about interracial relationships in a way that does not pretend as if race does not exist.”

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Author:Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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