Transcript THINGS FALL APART

Quotes
 "Mosquito [...] had asked Ear to marry him,
whereupon Ear fell on the floor in
uncontrollable laughter. "How much longer
do you think you will live?" she asked. "You
are already a skeleton." Mosquito went away
humiliated, and any time he passed her way
he told Ear that he was still alive."
— Chinua Achebe (Things Fall Apart (The
African Trilogy, #1))
"A child cannot pay for its
mother’s milk."
— Chinua Achebe (Things Fall
Apart (The African Trilogy, #1))
"The world has no end, and
what is good among one people
is an abomination with others."
— Chinua Achebe (Things Fall
Apart (The African Trilogy, #1))
 "At the most one could say that his chi or ...
personal god was good. But the Ibo people
have a proverb that when a man says yes his
chi says yes also. Okonkwo said yes very
strongly; so his chi agreed. "
— Chinua Achebe (Things Fall Apart (The
African Trilogy, #1))
 "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."
— Chinua Achebe (Things Fall Apart
(The African Trilogy, #1))
 "It always surprised him when he
thought of it later that he did not
sink under the load of despair."
— Chinua Achebe (Things Fall
Apart (The African Trilogy, #1))
 "The world is large,” said Okonkwo. “I have
even heard that in some tribes a man’s
children belong to his wife and her family.”
“That cannot be,” said Machi. “You might as
well say that the woman lies on top of the
man when they are making the babies."
— Chinua Achebe (Things Fall Apart (The
African Trilogy, #1))
 "Among the Igbo the art of
conversation is regarded very highly,
and proverbs are the palm-oil with
which words are eaten."
— Chinua Achebe (Things Fall Apart
(The African Trilogy, #1))
"If you don't like my story, write
your own"
— Chinua Achebe (Things Fall
Apart (The African Trilogy, #1))
 "Do not despair. I know you will not despair.
You have a manly and a proud heart. A
proud heart can survive a general failure
because such a failure does not prick its
pride. It is more difficult and more bitter
when a man fails alone."
— Chinua Achebe (Things Fall Apart (The
African Trilogy, #1))
 "Age was respected among his people,
but achievement was revered. As the
elders said, if a child washed his hands
he could eat with kings."
— Chinua Achebe (Things Fall Apart
(The African Trilogy, #1))
 "Mr. Brown had thought of nothing but numbers.
He should have known that the kingdom of God
did not depend on large crowds. Our Lord Himself
stressed the importance of fewness. Narrow is the
way and few the number. To fill the Lord's holy
temple with an idolatrous crowd clamoring for
signs was a folly of everlasting consequence. Our
Lord used the whip only once in His life - to drive
the crowd away from His church."
— Chinua Achebe (Things Fall Apart (The African
Trilogy, #1))
 "Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man.
But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of
failure and of weakness.
It was deeper and more intimate that the fear of evil and
capricious gods and of magic, the fear of the forest, and of
the forces of nature, malevolent, red in tooth and claw.
Okonkwo’s fear was greater than these. It was not external
but lay deep within himself."
— Chinua Achebe (Things Fall Apart (The African Trilogy,
#1))
"When the moon is shining the
cripple becomes hungry for a
walk"
— Chinua Achebe (Things Fall
Apart (The African Trilogy, #1))
 "Then listen to me,' he said and cleared his throat. 'It's true that a
child belongs to its father. But when a father beats his child, it
seeks sympathy in its mother's hut. A man belongs to his
fatherland when things are good and life is sweet. But when
there is sorrow and bitterness he finds refuge in his motherland.
Your mother is there to protect you. She is buried there. And that
is why we say that mother is supreme. Is it right that you,
Okonkwo, should bring your mother a heavy face and refuse to
be comforted? Be careful or you may displease the dead. Your
duty is to comfort your wives and children and take them back to
your fatherland after seven years. But if you allow sorrow to
weigh you down and kill you, they will all die in exile."
— Chinua Achebe (Things Fall Apart (The African Trilogy, #1))
 "A man who calls his kinsmen to a feast does
not do so to save them from starving. They all
have food in their own homes. When we gather
together in the moonlit village ground it is not
because of the moon. Every man can see it in
his own compound. We come together because
it is good for kinsmen to do so."
— Chinua Achebe (Things Fall Apart (The
African Trilogy, #1))
 "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."
— Chinua Achebe (Things Fall Apart
(The African Trilogy, #1))
"There is no story that is not
true."
— Chinua Achebe (Things
Fall Apart (The African
Trilogy, #1))
 "There is no story that is not true, [...]
The world has no end, and what is good
among one people is an abomination
with others."
— Chinua Achebe (Things Fall Apart
(The African Trilogy, #1))
 "The white man is very clever. He came quietly and
peaceably 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 (Things Fall Apart (The African
Trilogy, #1))