“Narrative is a very feeble weapon in the face of human darkness and yet it's all we have. That we have to hang the transformation and survival of our species on the journey and transformation of one singular person so far outside of what we expect they can do.” HumansPersonsFacesCan DoDarknessJourneyWeaponsSurvivalTransformationSpeciesNarrative Author:Chris Abani
“If you encounter a human shadow burned permanently into the concrete in Hiroshima, you realize that this is the trace of a very ordinary person now elevated into the emblematic. Time, shame, complicity, or discomfort are the only things that make us pretend History is impersonal or far removed from the power and consequences of our every lived moment.” IfsHumansPersonsMomentsRealizingOrdinaryShadowConsequenceShameEncountersConcreteBurnedDiscomfortHiroshimaComplicityOrdinary Person Author:Chris Abani
“I think cities are the primordial forests of our time. We evolve faster as a species in cities. Cities are chaotic, liminal places where the many aspects of human potential, good and/or bad, are most readily magnified.” ThinkingHumansCitiesAspectSpeciesForestsFasterEvolveOur TimeChaoticHuman Potential Author:Chris Abani
“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.” WorldWayHumansPhilosophyHumanitySimpleCompassionSouthEverydaySavedInvisibleGentlePhrasesGesturesSouth AfricaAccumulationUbuntu Author:Chris Abani
