Quotessence
Home / Authors / Chinua Achebe
Chinua Achebe

Chinua Achebe Quotes

Novelist

Filter quotes by topic

AllIfsMenPeopleStoriesThinkingWritingWorldShouldWayThings Fall Apart OkonkwoKnowsThought ProvokingNigeriaWantDifferentThings Fall Apart ImportantSaidKindLanguageChildren

Famous Chinua Achebe Quotes

“To answer oppression with appropriate resistance requires knowledge of two kinds: in the first place, self-knowledge by the victim, which means awareness that oppression exists, an awareness that the victim has fallen from a great height of glory or promise into the present depths; secondly, the victim must know who the enemy is. He must know his oppressor's real name, not an alias, a pseudonym, or a nom de plume!”

KnowsFirstsKindMeanTwoRealSelfNamesAnswersEnemyAwarenessPromiseGloryVictimDepthResistanceOppressionHeightFallenAppropriateSelf KnowledgeOppressorsAliasesGreat HeightsPseudonyms
Book:The Education of a British-Protected Child
Create image

“My books have done extremely well, I know. But I don't honestly feel much different from when I began to write. I still think we have a long way to go. I suppose my name means more in Nigeria today than it did five years ago. But I feel the job that literature should do in our community has not even started. It's not yet part of the life of the nation. We are still at the beginning. It's a big beginning, because now we are catching the next generation in the schools. When I was their age, I had nothing to read that had any relevance to my own environment.”

ThinkingKnowsWayFeelsShouldWritingYearsWellsMeanLongStillsBookDifferentDoneBigsAgeTodaySchoolJobsNextLiteratureNamesNationsCommunityMy OwnEnvironmentFiveGenerationsYears AgoHonestlyFive YearsLong WayNext GenerationCatchingRelevanceOur CommunityNigeriaLong Way To Go
Book:Conversations with Chinua Achebe
Create image

“What really worries me is that those who are in positions of power are not really affected by what we are writing. In the moral dialogue you want to start, you really want to involve the leaders. People ask me: "Why were you so bold as to publish A Man of the People? How did you think the Government was going to take it? You didn't know there was going to be a coup?" I said rather flippantly that nobody was going to read it anyway, so I wasn't likely to be fired from my official position. It's a distressing thought that we cannot engage our leaders in the kind of moral debate we need.”

PeopleThinkingKnowsMenWantNeedsWritingKindSaidGovernmentAsksLeaderMoralWorryPositionDebateDialogueAsk MeOfficialsAffectedPublishDistressingCoupsPosition Of Power
Book:Conversations with Chinua Achebe
Create image

“Writing is like wrestling; you are wrestling with ideas and with the story. There is a lot of energy required. At the same time, it is exciting. So it is both difficult and easy. What you must accept is that your life is not going to be the same while you are writing. I have said in the kind of exaggerated manner of writers and prophets that writing, for me, is like receiving a term of imprisonment-you know that's what you're in for, for whatever time it takes.”

KnowsWritingKindSaidIdeasStoriesLife IsEnergyEasyDifficultTermAcceptingExcitingProphetWrestlingReceivingExaggeratedImprisonmentDifficult And Easy
Author:Chinua Achebe
Create image

“When I'm writing, I really want to satisfy myself. I've got a story that I am working on and struggling with, and I want to tell it the most effective way I can. That's really what I struggle with. And the thought of who may be reading it may be there somewhere in the back of my mind - I'll never say it's not there because I don't know - but it's not really what I'm thinking about.”

ThinkingKnowsWayWantWritingMindMayI CanStoriesReadingStruggleOf My Mind
Author:Chinua Achebe
Create image

“We know the potentiality of Nigeria and the talent and the resources and to see it having no effect on the lives of the people, on the infrastructure, the roads, the hospitals, the schools, seeing no effect of these talents, these recourses is very frustrating. But it is the result of the damage that was done to the country, especially during the various military regimes.”

PeopleKnowsCountryDoneSchoolResultsSeeingEffectsTalentMilitaryResourcesVariousDamageHospitalsRegimesFrustratingInfrastructureNigeriaRecourse
Author:Chinua Achebe
Create image

“Colonial rule means that power, initiative is taken away from you by somebody else who makes your decisions. If that goes on long enough, beyond one generation, then the habit of self-rule is forgotten. People are no longer able to realize what it means. To be dependant for a hundred years! And suddenly when this thing ends there is nobody who actually knows how to set about running the country.”

PeopleIfsKnowsYearsMeanLongEndsSelfCountryEnoughRunningAbleRealizingDecisionKnow HowTakenGenerationsGoes OnHabitHundredForgottenInitiativeAway From You
Author:Chinua Achebe
Create image