Chinua Achebe Quotes

The white man is very clever. He came quietly 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.

Chinua Achebe

• Together
• Clever

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Quotes to Explore

• Time has lost all meaning in that nightmare alley of the Western world known as the American mind.

  

  Florence King
  • Time
  • World
  • Mind

• During the civilisation and development process of more than 5,000 years, the Chinese nation has made an indelible contribution to the civilisation and advancement of mankind.

  

  Xi Jinping
  • Years
  • Process
  • Chinese

• Shakespeare's villains are fabulous because none of them know that they are villains. Well, sometimes they do.

  

  Ian Mckellen
  • Know
  • Sometimes
  • Fabulous

• Excellence is not a skill, it's an attitude.

  

  Ralph Marston
  • Attitude
  • Excellence
  • Skill

• If I can just be thought of as Omari Hardwick who had a really, really solid career, and whose work is appreciated in its own right, I think that would be a great legacy to leave behind.

  

  Omari Hardwick
  • Work
  • Great
  • Career

• To take part in this brothel through the payment of my taxes, that had become to me unbearable.

  

  Yannick Noah
  • Part
  • Taxes
  • Payment

• If you grew up in my generation, you're going to be influenced by Run DMC, the Beastie Boys and also listen to Metallica - it wasn't segregated anymore.

  

  Vanilla Ice
  • Up
  • Generation
  • Listen

• When you are poor, you'll have to think of ways to be better off.

  

  Zong Qinghou
  • Think
  • You
  • Better

• I think an encore is perfectly acceptable, but I find it so weird when people do two or three.

  

  Florence Welch Florence and the Machine
  • People
  • Think
  • Weird

• I originally got into this because of a five-year-old's begrudgery of his teacher. Mrs. Lawlor cast me as a tree, and I was disgusted. I was sure I had more to offer than that. It was like, 'OK, if you want me to be set dressing, fine, I'll take it on the chin but I'll show you - I'm going to be a big actor some day.'

  

  Jack Reynor
  • Day
  • Teacher
  • Tree

• The secret of my influence has always been that it remained secret.

  

  Salvador Dali
  • Power
  • Always
  • Influence

• When you have a 'solution thinking mindset' - and choose to focus 80% of your thoughts/words on solutions - you will not only be heading more speedily to long-term success, but you will immediately feel better in the moment.

  

  Karen Salmansohn
  • Thinking
  • Long
  • Success

• When the news wants to tell you something is important, they put dramatic theme music behind it. They scare you into watching the story.

  

  Aaron McGruder
  • Music
  • Important
  • News

• As a child, my mother told me lots of fairy stories, many her own invention. She, too, tended to reverse the norm.

  

  Tanith Lee
  • Mother
  • Child
  • Stories

• Friendship is like money, easier made than kept.

  

  Samuel Butler
  • Money
  • Friendship
  • Keep

• The sleeplessness is proven; it eradicates your memory.

  

  Gaby Hoffmann
  • Memory
  • Your
  • Proven

• For me personally, the technology that has taken the most unexpected turn in my lifetime is what I refer to as 'the device formerly known as the cell phone.' I still remember many predictions that by 2000 there would only be about a million cell phone users. Boy, were they ever wrong!

  

  Padmasree Warrior
  • Remember
  • Boy
  • Lifetime

• Is it not worrying in itself that European Christianity is now barely able to keep Europe Christian? If we lose sight of this, the idea of Europe could become a minority interest in its own continent.

  

  Viktor Orban
  • Christian
  • Lose
  • Sight

• We all pulled together at the right time, unfortunately, we were down 3-0 to the Yankees when we decided to do it, but we did it. And we shocked the world.

  

  Johnny Damon
  • Time
  • World
  • Together

• This is a very unforgiving country when you show this country its warts, when you hold the mirror up. If you happen not to share their beliefs, they'll kill you.

  

  H. Rap Brown
  • Up
  • Country
  • Mirror

• I think we're such great parents together - I could not have picked a better partner to have kids with.

  

  Jessie James Decker
  • Great
  • Kids
  • Together

• The Russians have been flying long duration crews since the early '70's. And in the early days, they've ended at least two missions early because of conflicts within the crew. So, they learned early on the importance of studying this and making sure you put the right crew together. Since we began our work together on the International Space station with the Russians in the early 2000's, NASA has started to learn the importance of this kind of work. And so, I think it's important work and we are not fully onboard and recognize it as important.

  

  Leroy Chiao
  • Work
  • Important
  • Long

• One doesn't have to get anywhere in a marriage. It's not a public conveyance.

  

  Iris Murdoch
  • Marriage
  • Public
  • Get

• The white man is very clever. He came quietly 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.

  

  Chinua Achebe
  • Together
  • Clever