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Chi­ma­man­da Ngo­zi Adi­chie Quotes
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Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a Nigerian writer of novels, short stories, and nonfiction. In 2008 she was awarded a MacArthur Genius Grant. She was described in the Times Literary Supplement as "the most prominent" of a "procession of critically acclaimed young anglophone authors [that] is succeeding in attracting a new generation of readers to African literature".

✵ 15. September 1977
Chi­ma­man­da Ngo­zi Adi­chie photo
Chi­ma­man­da Ngo­zi Adi­chie: 97   quotes 28   likes

Chi­ma­man­da Ngo­zi Adi­chie Quotes

“You know, you’re a feminist.” It was not a compliment. I could tell from his tone—the same tone with which a person would say, “You’re a supporter of terrorism.”

Chi­ma­man­da Ngo­zi Adi­chie We Should All Be Feminists

Source: We Should All Be Feminists

Support , Personality

“Because when there is true equality, resentment does not exist.”

Chi­ma­man­da Ngo­zi Adi­chie

Source: Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions

“People will selectively use “tradition” to justify anything.”

Chi­ma­man­da Ngo­zi Adi­chie book Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions

Source: Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions

People

“I like politics and history and am happiest when having a good argument about ideas.”

Chi­ma­man­da Ngo­zi Adi­chie We Should All Be Feminists

Source: We Should All Be Feminists

History , Idea

“I was stained by failure.”

Chi­ma­man­da Ngo­zi Adi­chie book Purple Hibiscus

Source: Purple Hibiscus

Failure

“And her joy would become a restless thing, flapping its wings inside her, as though looking for an opening to fly away.”

Chi­ma­man­da Ngo­zi Adi­chie book Americanah

Source: Americanah

Joy , Flying

“Grief was the celebration of love, those who could feel real grief were lucky to have loved.”

Chi­ma­man­da Ngo­zi Adi­chie book Half of a Yellow Sun

Source: Half of a Yellow Sun

Love , Feeling

“Each time he suggested they get married, she said no. They were too happy, precariously so, and she wanted to guard that bond; she feared that marriage would flatten it into a prosaic partnership.”

Chi­ma­man­da Ngo­zi Adi­chie book Half of a Yellow Sun

Source: Half of a Yellow Sun

Marriage , Fear , Time , Partnership

“How was it possible to miss something you no longer wanted?”

Chi­ma­man­da Ngo­zi Adi­chie book Americanah

Source: Americanah

“In America, you don’t get to decide what race you are. It is decided for you.”

Chi­ma­man­da Ngo­zi Adi­chie book Americanah

Source: Americanah

“Teach her to question language. Language is the repository of our prejudices, our beliefs, our assumptions.”

Chi­ma­man­da Ngo­zi Adi­chie book Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions

Source: Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions

Question

“We do not just risk repeating history if we sweep it under the carpet, we also risk being myopic about our present.”

Chi­ma­man­da Ngo­zi Adi­chie
History

““ The only reason you say that race was not an issue is because you wish it was not. We all wish it”

Chi­ma­man­da Ngo­zi Adi­chie

“I don’t think I’m more inherently likely to do domestic work, or childcare ... It doesn’t come pre-programmed in your vagina, right?”

Chi­ma­man­da Ngo­zi Adi­chie

On how she views gender as a social construct in “Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: ‘This could be the beginning of a revolution’” https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/apr/28/chimamanda-ngozi-adichie-feminism-racism-sexism-gender-metoo in The Guardian (2018 Apr 28)

Thinking

“I don’t think sexism is worse than racism, it’s impossible even to compare…It’s that I feel lonely in my fight against sexism, in a way that I don’t feel in my fight against racism. My friends, my family, they get racism, they get it. The people I’m close to who are not black get it. But I find that with sexism you are constantly having to explain, justify, convince, make a case for.”

Chi­ma­man­da Ngo­zi Adi­chie

On why sexism is at times a more difficult argument for her than racism in “Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: ‘This could be the beginning of a revolution’” https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/apr/28/chimamanda-ngozi-adichie-feminism-racism-sexism-gender-metoo in The Guardian (2018 Apr 28)

Family , People , Thinking , Way

“I don’t think I’m more inherently likely to do domestic work, or childcare … It doesn’t come pre-programmed in your vagina, right?”

Chi­ma­man­da Ngo­zi Adi­chie

On how she views gender as a social construct in “Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: ‘This could be the beginning of a revolution’” https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/apr/28/chimamanda-ngozi-adichie-feminism-racism-sexism-gender-metoo in The Guardian (2018 Apr 28)

Thinking

“"In Nigeria I'm not black…We don't do race in Nigeria. We do ethnicity a lot, but not race. My friends here don't really get it. Some of them sound like white Southerners from 1940. They say, 'Why are black people complaining about race? Racism doesn't exist!'”

Chi­ma­man­da Ngo­zi Adi­chie

It's just not a part of their existence."

On how views of race differ in Nigeria than the United States in “Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: ‘I Wanted To Claim My Own Name’” https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/chimamanda-ngozi-adichie-novelist-ted-speaker-interview in Vogue (2015 Nov 3)

People

“Because we write fiction we mine our souls. Of course you put yourself into your fiction, your fiction is you.”

Chi­ma­man­da Ngo­zi Adi­chie

On the connection between the personal and fictional world in “Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: ‘This could be the beginning of a revolution’” https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/apr/28/chimamanda-ngozi-adichie-feminism-racism-sexism-gender-metoo in The Guardian (2018 Apr 28)

Soul

“I cannot control even the dreams that I have made.”

Chi­ma­man­da Ngo­zi Adi­chie book Purple Hibiscus

Purple Hibiscus (2003)

Dreams

“So true - when people see an absence of women in engineering, science and technology, then it becomes self-reinforcing.”

Chi­ma­man­da Ngo­zi Adi­chie

https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/15-quotes-from-chimamanda-adichie-that-have-change/
On Gender

People , Women , Science

“A successful story for me exist in a moral universe, not one where goodness always triumph, because that would be false but one with an inherent awareness of goodness”

Chi­ma­man­da Ngo­zi Adi­chie

https://www.instagram.com/p/CV2h2BKKhl0/?utm_medium=copy_link
The Best Short Stories(2021)

Success , Universe , Falseness

“I look to stories for consolation,the kind of small consolation that one needs to want to wake up everyday;as template for life;for news on how others live;for reminders that life's mysteries have no key”

Chi­ma­man­da Ngo­zi Adi­chie

The Best Short Stories(2021)

Life

“Please love by giving and by taking. Give and be given. If you are only giving and not taking, you’ll know. You’ll know from that small and true voice inside you that we females are so often socialized to silence. Don’t silence that voice. Dare to take.”

Chi­ma­man­da Ngo­zi Adi­chie

w:On Men, Love and Relationships
Source: https://sheleadsafrica.org/20-powerful-chimamanda-adichie-quotes-for-todays-boss-women/

Love , Silence

“Creative writing programmes are not very necessary. They just exist so that people like us can make a living.”

Chi­ma­man­da Ngo­zi Adi­chie

On Money and wealth
Source: https://sheleadsafrica.org/20-powerful-chimamanda-adichie-quotes-for-todays-boss-women/

People

“There was a helplessness to his joy, the same kind of helplessness as in that woman’s despair.”

Chi­ma­man­da Ngo­zi Adi­chie book Purple Hibiscus

Source: Purple Hibiscus (2003)

Despair , Joy

“God is big enough to do his own job. If God will judge our father for choosing to follow the way of our ancestors, then let God do the judging, not Eugene.”

Chi­ma­man­da Ngo­zi Adi­chie book Purple Hibiscus

Source: Purple Hibiscus (2003)

God , Way

“A gorgeous pitless account of love, violence and betrayal.”

Chi­ma­man­da Ngo­zi Adi­chie book Half of a Yellow Sun

Source: Half of a yellow sun (2006)

Betrayal , Love

“When the dark days come - and they will - try and remember this: it will pass,it will definitely pass.”

Chi­ma­man­da Ngo­zi Adi­chie

Source: RISD commencement 2019
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CWsDB7fKt2m/?utm_medium=copy_link

“This is the kind of capitalism I hate. This is bullying capitalism. Look, I am Igbo, I come from a trading culture. My people are merchant and I'm all for buying and selling. But capitalism has to be a fair exchange.”

Chi­ma­man­da Ngo­zi Adi­chie

Paris review,2019 https://www.instagram.com/p/CWvTJmvqOLy/?utm_medium=copy_link

Hate , People

“Even though I helped to clean the wounded, I had never taken anyone into my room.But I took this girl into my room.Her name was chinasa.”

Chi­ma­man­da Ngo­zi Adi­chie

Source: https://campaignforeducation.org/en/

Girl , Help

“Feminism is not that men and women are the same. If men and women are the same, we won't have sexism. We are just stating the differences and people should stop giving negative value to all the attributes that women have. It's not that men and women are the same but they've equally human.”

Chi­ma­man­da Ngo­zi Adi­chie

Source: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: ‘I want to say what I think’ https://www.bbc.com/news/av/entertainment-arts-59568638 chimamanda ngozi adichie speaking on her speech of 2012 on feminism on (9th December 2021)

People , Women , Men