The man that brings ant-infested faggots into his hut should not grumble when lizards begin to pay him a visit.

I think the language that we use in dealing with one another is very important. And even if I am called upon to bring out some money to support a regime, and I am entitled to say I do not like what that regime does and obviously I am not going to put money there - you cannot really say this is wrong or this is unreasonable.

In America there is really very little knowledge of the literature of the rest of the world. Of the literature of Latin America, yes, But that's not all that different in inspiration from that of America, or of Europe. One must go further. You don't even have to go too far in terms of geography - you can start with the Native Americans and listen to their poetry.

When a new saying gets to the land of empty men, they lose their heads over it.

The last four or five hundred years of European contact with Africa produced a body of literature that presented Africa in a very bad light and Africans in very lurid terms. The reason for this had to do with the need to justify the slave trade and slavery.

As long as one people sit on another and are deaf to their cry, so long will understanding and peace elude all of us.

Each of my books is different. Deliberately... I wanted to create my society, my people, in their fullness.