Things Fall Apart Okonkwo Quotes

• 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

  Brother, Clever, Fall

  Chinua Achebe (2009). “Things Fall Apart: Authoritative Text, Contexts and Criticism”, W W Norton & Company Incorporated

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• 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

  Heart, Men, Okonkwo

  Chinua Achebe (1996). “Things Fall Apart”, p.9, Heinemann

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• 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.

  Chinua Achebe

  Children, Men, Okonkwo

  Chinua Achebe (1996). “Things Fall Apart”, p.37, Heinemann

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• The sun will shine on those who stand before it shines on those who kneel under them.

  Chinua Achebe

  Shine On, Shining, Sun

  FaceBook post by Chinua Achebe from Jul 14, 2016

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• 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

  Home, Moon, Men

  Chinua Achebe (1996). “Things Fall Apart”, p.118, Heinemann

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• Men have learned to shoot without missing their mark and I have learned to fly without perching on a twig.

  Chinua Achebe

  Men, Missing, Twigs

  Chinua Achebe (1992). “Things Fall Apart”, Everyman's Library

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• 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.

  Chinua Achebe

  Strong, Powerful, Gun

  FaceBook post by Chinua Achebe from Nov 10, 2011

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• We shall all live. We pray for life, children, a good harvest and happiness. You will have what is good for you and I will have what is good for me. Let the kite perch and let the egret
  perch too. If one says no to the other, let his wing break.

  Chinua Achebe

  Children, Wings, Kites

  Chinua Achebe (2009). “Things Fall Apart: Authoritative Text, Contexts and Criticism”, W W Norton & Company Incorporated

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• Living fire begets cold, impotent ash.

  Chinua Achebe

  Fire, Okonkwo, Ashes

  Chinua Achebe (1996). “Things Fall Apart”, p.109, Heinemann

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• You might as well say that the woman lies on top of the man when they are making the babies.

  Chinua Achebe

  Baby, Lying, Men

  Chinua Achebe (2009). “Things Fall Apart: Authoritative Text, Contexts and Criticism”, W W Norton & Company Incorporated

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• 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

  Kings, Children, Hands

  FaceBook post by Chinua Achebe from Jul 05, 2014

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• Among the Igbo the art of conversation is regarded very highly, and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten.

  Chinua Achebe

  Art, Oil, Conversation

  FaceBook post by Chinua Achebe from Sep 05, 2014

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• A man's life from birth to death was a series of transition rites which brought him nearer and nearer to his ancestors.

  Chinua Achebe

  Life, Men, Transition

  Chinua Achebe (2009). “Things Fall Apart: Authoritative Text, Contexts and Criticism”, W W Norton & Company Incorporated

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• If a child washed his hands, he could eat with kings.

  Chinua Achebe

  Kings, Children, Hands

  Chinua Achebe (1996). “Things Fall Apart”, p.6, Heinemann

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• An old woman is always uneasy when dry bones are mentioned in a proverb

  Chinua Achebe

  Okonkwo, Dry Bones, Things Fall Apart Important

  FaceBook post by Chinua Achebe from Oct 28, 2014

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• 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

  People, Stories, World

  Chinua Achebe (1996). “Things Fall Apart”, p.99, Heinemann

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• 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

  Men, Okonkwo, People

  Chinua Achebe (1996). “Things Fall Apart”, p.19, Heinemann

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• Beware Okonkwo!" she warned. "Beware of exchanging words with Agbala. Does a man speak when a god speaks? Beware!

  Chinua Achebe

  Men, Okonkwo, Doe

  Chinua Achebe (2009). “Things Fall Apart: Authoritative Text, Contexts and Criticism”, W W Norton & Company Incorporated

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• Let the kite perch and let the eagle perch too – If one says no to the other, let his wing break.

  Chinua Achebe

  Eagles, Wings, Kites

  Chinua Achebe (1996). “Things Fall Apart”, p.14, Heinemann

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• 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

  Should Have, Numbers, Stressed

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• When the moon is shining the cripple becomes hungry for a walk

  Chinua Achebe

  Inspirational, Life, Moon

  Chinua Achebe (1996). “Things Fall Apart”, p.7, Heinemann

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• 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

  Hands, Feet, Beads

  Chinua Achebe (1996). “Things Fall Apart”, p.84, Heinemann

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• "You sound as if you question the authority and the decision of the Oracle, who said he should die."
  "I do not. Why should I? But the Oracle did not ask me to carry out its decision." [...]
  "The Earth cannot punish me for obeying her mesenger," Okonkwo said. "A child's fingers are not scalded by a piece of hot yam which its mother puts into its palm."

  Chinua Achebe

  Mother, Children, Yams

  "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe, Fawcett Premier edition, (p. 64), 1969.

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• The falcon cannot hear the falconer

  William Butler Yeats

  Falling Apart, Anarchy, Things Fall Apart Important

  "The Second Coming" l. 1 (1921)

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• There is no story that is not true.

  Chinua Achebe

  Stories, Abomination, Things Fall Apart Important

  Chinua Achebe (1996). “Things Fall Apart”, p.99, Heinemann

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