Chinua Achebe

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.

A man who calls his kinsmen to a feast does not do so to save them from starvation, but to demonstrate his wealth and the greatness of his name.

When suffering knocks at your door and you say there is no seat for him, he tells you not to worry because he has brought his own stool.

The sun will shine on those who stand before it shines on those who kneel under them.

A man who does not know where the rain began to beat him cannot say where he dried his body.

There is that proverb that until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.

The world is like a mask dancing. If you want to see it well, you do not stand in one place.

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

If you don't like someone's story, write your own.

The greatest tragedy is not to have a story, but to have a story that is not told.

Charity begins at home, but does not end there.

A man who lives on the bank of the Niger should not wash his hands with spittle.

When we are young, we are told that if we work hard, we will succeed. But the world is not always fair.

The fly that has no one to advise it follows the corpse into the grave.

It is praiseworthy to be a peacemaker, but it is not enough to be a peacemaker. One must also be a justice-maker.

The falcon cannot hear the falconer.

Proverbs are the palm oil with which words are eaten.

The impatient man does not live to tell how the world was made.

When a man says yes, his chi says yes also.

A man who makes trouble for others is also making trouble for himself.