104 Quotes by Chris Abani

You know, you can steel your heart against any kind of trouble, any kind of horror. But the simple act of kindness from a complete stranger will unstitch you.

What we know about who we are comes from stories. It's the agents of our imagination who really shape who we are.

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.

My grand uncle was a traditional priest, and he would always say to me as a kid, 'We stand in our own light,' which essentially for him meant we were entirely responsible for a lot of what happens to us and for the ways in which our lives play out.

People think that writing is writing, but actually writing is editing. Otherwise, you’re just taking notes.

If there was no risk, it wouldn’t be art. It wouldn’t be worth making. There is risk even in a fairy tale. Fiction is closest to pure narrative, and pure narrative is simply the logic we try to impose on an ever-changing reality.

What we know about who we are comes from stories. It’s the agents of our imagination who really shape who we are.

Nigerians are everywhere. There’s an old joke, particularly about the Ibos, that when you finally land on Mars, you’re going to find a Nigerian there who has a shop that is selling Coca-Cola – who took a speculative trip 20 years ago and has been waiting for everyone else to arrive.

Time was the only variable in every equation of power and oppression – how long before the pot boiled over.