Binyavanga Wainaina Quotes

• All people have dignity. Theres nobody who was born without a soul and a spirit.

  Binyavanga Wainaina

  People, Soul, Spirit

  9 Copy quote

• I have learned that I, we, are a dollar-a-day people (which is terrible, they say, because a cow in Japan is worth $9 a day). This means that a Japanese cow would be a middle class Kenyan... a $9-a-day cow from Japan could very well head a humanitarian NGO in Kenya. Massages are very cheap in Nairobi, so the cow would be comfortable.

  Binyavanga Wainaina

  Mean, Japan, Class

  13 Copy quote

• International correspondents with their long dictaphones, and dirty jeans, and five hundred words before whiskey, are slouched over the red velvet chairs, in the VIP section in the front, looking for the Story: the Most Macheteing Deathest, Most Treasury Corruptest, Most Entrail-Eating Civil Warest, Most Crocodile-Grinning Dictatorest, MOst Heart-Wrenching and Genociding Pulitzerest, Most Black Big-Eyed Oxfam Child Starvingest, Most Wild African Savages Having AIDS-Ridden Sexest with Genetically Mutilatedest Girls...The Most Authentic Real Black Africanest story they can find.

  Binyavanga Wainaina

  Girl, Children, Real

  8 Copy quote

• I believe in, and will to the best of my ability fight for, equal rights and freedom of opinion for everyone, regardless of colour, religion, nationality, orientation - you know the rest.

  Binyavanga Wainaina

  Believe, Fighting, Rights

  6 Copy quote

• Every human being has a bit of gangster in him.

  Binyavanga Wainaina

  Gangsters, Humans, Bits

  17 Copy quote

• It is a pink and blue feeling, as sharp as clear sky; a slight breeze, and the edges of Lake Nakuru would rise like the ruffle at the edge of a skirt; and I am pockmarked with whole-body pinpricks of potentiality. A stretch of my body would surely stretch as far as the sky. The whole universe poised, and I am the agent of any movement.

  Binyavanga Wainaina

  Lakes, Blue, Sky

  9 Copy quote

• I’m extremely optimistic about rapid transformation and change of things in Africa in general.

  Binyavanga Wainaina

  Optimistic, Transformation, Rapids

  8 Copy quote

• Everywhere I go, I see young people: Confident, forward looking. I have seen them in Lagos, in Rwanda, in the suburbs of London.

  Binyavanga Wainaina

  People, London, Young

  "Viewpoint: Binyavanga on why Africa's international image is unfair". www.bbc.com. April 24, 2012.

  9 Copy quote

• There is no country in the world with the diversity, confidence and talent and black pride like Nigeria.

  Binyavanga Wainaina

  Country, Pride, Diversity

  "Binyavanga Wainaina, Kenyan Author, Comes Out As Gay To Challenge Homophobic Laws", www.huffingtonpost.com. January 21, 2014.

  23 Copy quote

• Africa is to be pitied, worshipped or dominated

  Binyavanga Wainaina

  "Binyavanga Wainaina interview: coming out in Kenya". Interview With Tim Adams, www.theguardian.com. February 16, 2014.

  4 Copy quote

• I like the idea of readers feeling a familiarity, whether its with Africa or childhood.

  Binyavanga Wainaina

  Ideas, Childhood, Feelings

  6 Copy quote

• People reach an age... where somebody elses platform is no longer yours.

  Binyavanga Wainaina

  People, Age, Platforms

  4 Copy quote

• I love playing with words and texture.

  Binyavanga Wainaina

  Texture

  4 Copy quote

• I, Binyavanga Wainaina, quite honestly swear I have known I am a homosexual since I was five.

  Binyavanga Wainaina

  Homosexual, Honestly, Swear

  "I am a homosexual, mum". africasacountry.com. January 19, 2014.

  4 Copy quote

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