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.

When mother-cow is chewing grass its young ones watch its mouth

Unless I'm writing in the Igbo language, I use a language developed elsewhere, which is English. That affects the way I write. It even affects to some extent the stories I write.

In Nigeria, there is energy, whether it is Lagos, which is sheer anarchy, but it is not lethargic. It is strong, even aggressive and if that energy could be directed to work it will produce really enormous results.

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

When a tradition gathers enough strength to go on for centuries, you don't just turn it off one day.

The lizard that jumped from a high Iroko tree to the ground said he would praise himself if no-one else did.