The strange thing about Africa is how past, present and future come together in a kind of rough jazz, if you like.

Bad things will happen and good things too. Your life will be full of surprises. Miracles happen only where there has been suffering. So taste your grief to the fullest. Don’t try and press it down. Don’t hide from it. Don’t escape. It is life too. It is truth. But it will pass and time will put a strange honey in the bitterness. That’s the way life goes.

Destiny plans a different route and fulfills the dream in ways we couldn't have expected.

An inner darkness is darker than an outer darkness.

A people are as healthy and confident as the stories they tell themselves. Sick storytellers can make nations sick. Without stories we would go mad. Life would lose it’s moorings or orientation... Stories can conquer fear, you know. They can make the heart larger.

To see the madness and yet walk a perfect silver line. ... That's what the true story-teller should be: a great guide, a clear mind, who can walk a silver line in hell or madness.

One of the greatest gifts my father gave me - unintentionally - was witnessing the courage with which he bore adversity.