a writer doesn't only need the time when he's actually writing - he or she has got to have time to think and time just to let things work out. Nothing is worse for this than society. Nothing is worse for this than the abrasive, if enjoyable, effect of other people.

If one will always have to feel white first, and African second, it would be better not to stay on in Africa

Time is change; we measure its passage by how much things alter.

Disaster is private, in its way, as love is.

It's absolutely fatal to your writing to think about how your work will be received. It's a betrayal of whatever talent you have.

a writer doesn't only need the time when he's actually writing - he or she has got to have time to think and time just to let things work out. Nothing is worse for this than society. Nothing is worse for this than the abrasive, if enjoyable, effect of other people.

Responsibility is what awaits outside the Eden of Creativity.