Ngugi wa Thiong'o Quotes

I was wondering why I was put in prison for working in an African language when I had not been put in prison for working in English. So really, in prison I started thinking more seriously about the relation between language and power.

Ngugi wa Thiong'o

• Power
• Language
• Prison
• African

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Quotes to Explore

• Neither science, nor the politics in power, nor the mass media, nor business, nor the law nor even the military are in a position to define or control risks rationally.

  

  Ulrich Beck
  • Business
  • Power
  • Science

• The point - the power to hurt - of all figures lies in the truthfulness of their application.

  

  Abraham Lincoln
  • Power
  • Hurt
  • Lies

• I had something I was trying to say and sometimes the message is an easy transmission and sometimes it's a difficult one but I love the power of saying it so I'm gonna do it whether it's hard or easy.

  

  Faith Ringgold
  • Trying
  • Love
  • Power

• I was very insecure approaching the idea of directing a feature film. I told myself I would not move until I felt I was moving in power rather than moving in desperation to make a movie.

  

  Nate Parker
  • Power
  • Movie
  • Myself

• If only I could step back into the time of old movies, if only I could be given the opportunity to do what Katharine Hepburn did or what Rosalind Russell did. Those kinds of characters, that kind of patter, that kind of language, that kind of script. They don't exist any more.

  

  Kari Matchett
  • Time
  • Opportunity
  • Language

• I am lucky that the Western world chooses me to play roles in their movies an television, whatever language it may be.

  

  Irrfan Khan
  • World
  • Play
  • Language

• I prefer death in Christ Jesus to power over the farthest limits of the earth. He who died in place of us is the one object of my quest. He who rose for our sakes is my one desire.

  

  Ignatius of Antioch
  • Power
  • Death
  • Earth

• Negative freedom is freedom from - freedom from oppression, whether it's a colonial power or addiction to alcohol oppressing you. You need to be freed from negative freedom. Positive freedom is freedom for, freedom to be. And that's what's routinely ignored today.

  

  Os Guinness
  • Power
  • Today
  • Freedom

• The huge difference in my lifetime is that you can just go up to somebody and make a pass. You couldn't do that in the 1950s if you were gay. There were secret handshakes, a secret language. There was nowhere you could go to be romantic outside of people's houses.

  

  Ian Mckellen
  • People
  • Up
  • Language

• Language that is designed to dehumanize has consequences.

  

  Maajid Nawaz
  • Language
  • Consequences

• We must use all the tools of American power in resolving disputes, including diplomacy. And we must have sufficient congressional debate and oversight before ever putting another U.S. solider in harm's way.

  

  Barbara Lee
  • Power
  • American
  • Tools

• It's not possible for two countries to be the leading dominant political power at the same time.

  

  Fareed Zakaria
  • Time
  • Power
  • Political

• Given the daunting challenges that we face, it's important that president elect Obama is prepared to really take power and begin to rule day one.

  

  Valerie Jarrett
  • Important
  • Power
  • Day

• Language is the mother of thought, not its handmaiden.

  

  Karl Kraus
  • Mother
  • Language
  • Thought

• My main aim has always been to do good quality films with roles that have some substance. With Power and Beauty there were loads of things that I liked about the movie, which made me opt for it.

  

  Natasha Henstridge
  • Good
  • Power
  • Movie

• The power of the ADA is that it ended up changing my life long before I ever imagined it would.

  

  Tammy Duckworth
  • Life
  • Up
  • Long

• The power of youth is the common wealth for the entire world. The faces of young people are the faces of our past, our present and our future. No segment in the society can match with the power, idealism, enthusiasm and courage of the young people.

  

  Kailash Satyarthi
  • People
  • World
  • Power

• There had so lately been a large force of Spanish cavalry at the village, which had made a great impression on the minds of the young men, as to their power, consequence, which my appearance with 20 infantry was by no means calculated to remove.

  

  Zebulon Pike
  • Great
  • Men
  • Power

• I don't know if it is of any joy to humiliate people. No matter what, whether you're high in life or low in life, humiliation and such kinds of things should just be ignored. I don't derive any pleasure from running people down.

  

  Kangana Ranaut
  • People
  • Life
  • High

• People feel like they know you because they've read about you, and people who don't know me seem to have warm feelings about me. I seem to be popular with women. I go into the loo in restaurants, and they all say, 'Oh, I love you.' It's odd, but it's really nice, too.

  

  Jerry Hall
  • People
  • Women
  • Nice

• There seems to be more opportunities for old guys like me to do a little fighting and running because the lead characters also require a bit of depth and maturity and gravitas that one is likely to acquire doing drama all those years.

  

  Liam Neeson
  • Running
  • Fighting
  • Drama

• I think loads of people see acting, when they're kids, as these magical stories that just happen within the context of the film or the play or the cartoon or whatever they're seeing. They don't imagine that there are actually people that go and do that for a living.

  

  Rebecca Hall
  • Kids
  • Stories
  • Imagine

• Prudence, patience, labor, valor; these are the stars that rule the career of mortals.

  

  Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton
  • Career
  • Rule
  • Labor

• I was wondering why I was put in prison for working in an African language when I had not been put in prison for working in English. So really, in prison I started thinking more seriously about the relation between language and power.

  

  Ngugi wa Thiong'o
  • Power
  • Language
  • Prison