Home / Topics / Okonkwo Quotes

Okonkwo Quotes

Browse 11 quotes about Okonkwo.

Related topics

Okonkwo Quotes

“Let us not reason like cowards,” said Okonkwo. “If a man comes into my hut and defecates on the floor, what do I do? Do I shut my eyes? No! I take a stick and break his head. That is what a man does. These people are daily pouring filth over us, and Okeke says we should pretend not to see.”

Okonkwo Defence And Security

Book:Things Fall Apart

Source: Things Fall Apart

“No matter how prosperous a man was, if he was unable to rule his women and his children (and especially his women) he was not really a man.”

Ifs Men Children Matter Falling Apart Prosperous Things Fall Apart Okonkwo Things Fall Apart Important Okonkwo

Book:Things Fall Apart

Source: Things Fall Apart

“"You sound as if you question the authority and the decision of the Oracle, who said he should die." "I do not. Why should I? But the Oracle did not ask me to carry out its decision." [...] "The Earth cannot punish me for obeying her mesenger," Okonkwo said. "A child's fingers are not scalded by a piece of hot yam which its mother puts into its palm."”

Ifs Should Children Said Earth Mother Dies Asks Sound Decision Pieces Authority Hot Fingers Ask Me Should I Palms Obeying Oracles Things Fall Apart Okonkwo Yams Okonkwo

Author:Chinua Achebe

“Beware Okonkwo!" she warned. "Beware of exchanging words with Agbala. Does a man speak when a god speaks? Beware!”

Men Doe Speak Exchanging Things Fall Apart Okonkwo Things Fall Apart Important Okonkwo

Book:Things Fall Apart: Authoritative Text, Contexts and Criticism

Source: Things Fall Apart: Authoritative Text, Contexts and Criticism

“Living fire begets cold, impotent ash.”

Fire Cold Ashes Begets Things Fall Apart Okonkwo Things Fall Apart Important Okonkwo

Book:Things Fall Apart

Source: Things Fall Apart

“The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.”

Men Together Fall White Brother Clever Fallen Knives Foolishness White Man Falling Apart Amused Clans Very Clever Things Fall Apart Okonkwo Things Fall Apart Important Okonkwo

Book:Things Fall Apart: Authoritative Text, Contexts and Criticism

Source: Things Fall Apart: Authoritative Text, Contexts and Criticism

“At the most one could say that his chi or ... personal god was good. But the Ibo people have a proverb that when a man says yes his chi says yes also. Okonkwo said yes very strongly; so his chi agreed.”

People Men Said Things Fall Apart Okonkwo Things Fall Apart Important Okonkwo

Book:Things Fall Apart

Source: Things Fall Apart

“Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness. It was deeper and more intimate that the fear of evil and capricious gods and of magic, the fear of the forest, and of the forces of nature, malevolent, red in tooth and claw. Okonkwo’s fear was greater than these. It was not external but lay deep within himself.”

Source: Things Fall Apart

“The world is large,” said Okonkwo. “I have even heard that in some tribes a man’s children belong to his wife and her family.” “That cannot be,” said Machi. “You might as well say that the woman lies on top of the man when they are making the babies.”

Men World Wells Children Said Might Lying Wife Heard Baby Tribes Things Fall Apart Okonkwo Women Lie Okonkwo

Book:Things Fall Apart: Authoritative Text, Contexts and Criticism

Source: Things Fall Apart: Authoritative Text, Contexts and Criticism

“An old woman is always uneasy when dry bones are mentioned in a proverb”

Bones Dry Old Woman Uneasy Things Fall Apart Okonkwo Things Fall Apart Important Dry Bones Okonkwo

Author:Chinua Achebe

“You might as well say that the woman lies on top of the man when they are making the babies.”

Men Wells Might Lying He Man Baby Lying Men Things Fall Apart Okonkwo Women Lie Okonkwo

Book:Things Fall Apart: Authoritative Text, Contexts and Criticism

Source: Things Fall Apart: Authoritative Text, Contexts and Criticism