The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership. There is nothing basically wrong with the Nigerian land or climate or water or air or anything else. The Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility, to the challenge of personal example which are the hallmarks of true leadership.

In dealing with a man who thinks you are a fool, it is good sometimes to remind him that you know what he knows but have chosen to appear foolish for the sake of peace.

Anybody who wants to rule a group will find that if this group is quarreling among themselves they leave you alone.

When we hear a house has fallen do we ask if the ceiling fell with it?

Literature, whether handed down by word or mouth or in print, gives us a second handle on reality.

If you ask me, Now, is it your best book? I would say, I don't really know. I wouldn't even want to say. And I'd even go on and say, I don't even think so.

...when we are comfortable and inattentive, we run the risk of committing grave injustices absentmindedly.