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.
No matter how prosperous a man was, if he was unable to rule his women and his children (and especially his women) he was not really a man.
Living fire begets cold, impotent ash.
If a child washed his hands, he could eat with kings.
Among the Igbo the art of conversation is regarded very highly, and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten.
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.
When the moon is shining the cripple becomes hungry for a walk
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.
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.
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.
There is no story that is not true.
The falcon cannot hear the falconer
Beware Okonkwo!" she warned. "Beware of exchanging words with Agbala. Does a man speak when a god speaks? Beware!
The sun will shine on those who stand before it shines on those who kneel under them.
We have heard stories about white men who make the powerful guns and the strong drinks and took slaves away across the seas, but no one thought the stories were true.
An old woman is always uneasy when dry bones are mentioned in a proverb
Men have learned to shoot without missing their mark and I have learned to fly without perching on a twig.
Let the kite perch and let the eagle perch too – If one says no to the other, let his wing break.
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.
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.
or simply:
