Binyavanga Wainaina Quotes
Living in South Africa and periodically coming back to Kenya, my relationship with officialdom in Kenya was just insane.
Quotes to Explore
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When I was younger we had a grape arbor, and my mom would go out and pick grapes and make grape jam in the sink - boil it, put it in jars, and give it away as gifts.
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When something happens far back in the past, people often can't recall exact details. Blame depends upon point of view. There may be a villain, but reality is frustrating because it's often ambiguous.
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It's very hard to teach someone how to write a song if to begin with there's no creative crop to harvest.
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I want to stop transforming and just start being.
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Religion is essentially the art and the theory of the remaking of man. Man is not a finished creation.
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Comedy is a universal language. I grew up watching Nagesh, Surilirajan, Thenga Srinivasan and S.V. Shekhar's comedies. And, of course, Charlie Chaplin! These artists are so blessed: they can make other people happy.
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A mom can't afford to be sick.
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I know there are some people in British Columbia who are still holding a vigil for '3rd Rock'.
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Everybody feels up sometimes, they feel down sometimes, sometimes they feel sideways, sometimes they feel weird. And the beauty of music is you can express all those different feelings in all the different songs you write. And hopefully, people can identify with those.
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We shot 'Telusa Telusa' song in Bolivia. It took us 50 hours to get to the location. We shot in high altitudes, and oxygen cylinders were kept handy.
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The one thing I do not want to be called is First Lady. It sounds like a saddle horse.
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Happiness is a mysterious concept. It seems to work best as futurity: at that point I will be happy, et cetera. I feel like I experience small pieces of joy day to day.
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Some of the craziest people I've met, in my life, are some of the most brilliant people I've met.
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There is no better way to bring people together than with desserts.
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I take my work seriously, but I don't necessarily take myself seriously.
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I don't think people are fools, and I think they deserve a good attitude and smart entertainment.
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The eyes get lost in 3-D. With 3-D, your eyes are looking for the plane of focus, right? And the problem is, when you do quick cuts, your eyes can't find it.
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The service of philosophy, of speculative culture, towards the human spirit, is to rouse, to startle it to a life of constant and eager observation.
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When I go home, I play with my baby dolls and strollers and diaper bags, and play with my sisters.
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Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.
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Love is a virtue; it grows stronger and purer and less selfish by applying it to what it loathes; but theft is a vice involving the slave-idea that one's neighbor is superior to oneself.
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I'm a young dude from Chicago who grew up with Kanye as my image of hip-hop. Finding your voice in a room where you have to challenge Kanye is scary - but it's also life-affirming.
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It would not be foolish to contemplate the possibility of a far greater progress still.
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Living in South Africa and periodically coming back to Kenya, my relationship with officialdom in Kenya was just insane.
