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.

I don't praise my people. I am their greatest critic.

I wouldn't have wanted anyone to teach me how to write. That's my own taste. I prefer to stumble on it.

A man of worth never gets up to unsay what he said yesterday.

There is that great proverb — that until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.

It is not quite true to say that I am not an advocate of writing in African languages. What I think is, one has to think about what is practicable.

Privilege, you see, is one of the great adversaries of the imagination; it spreads a thick layer of adipose tissue over our sensitivity.