410 Quotes by Chinua Achebe

You do not know me,’ said Tortoise. ‘I am a changed man. I have learned that a man who makes trouble for others makes trouble for himself.

A child cannot pay for its mother’s milk.

Children are young, but they're not naive. And they're honest. They're not going to keep wide awake if the story is boring. When they get excited you can see it in their eyes.

Whenever you see a toad jumping in broad daylight, then know that something is after its life.

If I hold her hand she says, ‘Don’t touch!’ If I hold her foot she says ‘Don’t touch!’ But when I hold her waist-beads she pretends not to know.

We have heard stories about white men who make the powerful guns and the strong drinks and took slaves away across the seas, but no one thought the stories were true.

Men have learned to shoot without missing their mark and I have learned to fly without perching on a twig.

...Nothing puzzles God

Wisdom is like a goatskin bag; every man carries his own.