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A man who lived on the banks of the Niger should not wash his hands with spittle.

Chinua Achebe

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Chinua Achebe
Age: 82 †
Born: 1930
Born: November 16
Died: 2013
Died: March 22
Essayist
Literary Critic
Novelist
Philosopher
Poet
Short Story Writer
University Teacher
Writer
Albert Chinualumogu Achebe
Spittle
Niger
Wash
Banks
Lived
Hands
Men

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It always surprised him when he thought of it later that he did not sink under the load of despair.
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When the moon is shining the cripple becomes hungry for a walk
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The most awful thing about power is not that it corrupts absolutely but that it makes people so utterly boring, so predictable.
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Art should be on the side of humanity.
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When mother-cow is chewing grass its young ones watch its mouth
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When old people speak it is not because of the sweetness of words in our mouths it is because we see something which you do not see.
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If you have leaders who are prepared to incite group against group it is very easy to manufacture reasons and excuses.
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Wisdom is like a goatskin bag every man carries his own.
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I find Nigeria very frustrating. I am not alone in this. There are many Nigerians abroad. As you know, the brain drain is just incredible. And when we talk to one another and there is a certain sense of frustration and but I struggle not to let the frustration degenerate into dispair.
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Anybody who wants to rule a group will find that if this group is quarreling among themselves they leave you alone.
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When a mad man walks naked, it is his kinsmen who feel shame, not himself.
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Nigeria has had a complicated colonial history. My work has examined that part of our story extensively.
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There's no lack of writers writing novels in America, about America. Therefore, it seems to me it would be wasteful for me to add to that huge number of people writing here when there are so few people writing about somewhere else.
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This is why I find racism impossible, because this is against humanity.
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[Would] a sensible man spit out the juicy morsel that good fortune put in his mouth?
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It is only the story...that saves our progeny from blundering like blind beggars into the spikes of the cactus fence.The story is our escortwithout it,we are blind.Does the blind man own his escort?No,neither do we the storyrather,it is the story that owns us.
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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.
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Once a novel gets going and I know it is viable, I don't then worry about plot or themes. These things will come in almost automatically because the characters are now pulling the story.
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One reason why I am quite angry with what is happening in Nigeria today is that everything has collapsed. If I decide to go back now, there will be so many problems - where will I find the physical therapy and other things that I now require?
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And theories are no more than fictions which help us to make sense of experience and which are subject to disconfirmation when their explanations are no longer adequate.
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