Top 6 Okonkwo Quotes - Quoted Daily

Living fire begets cold, impotent ash.

Fire, Okonkwo, Ashes

Chinua Achebe (1996). “Things Fall Apart”, p.109, Heinemann

No matter how prosperous a man was, if he was unable to rule his women and his children (and especially his women) he was not really a man.

Chinua Achebe

Children, Men, Okonkwo

Chinua Achebe (1996). “Things Fall Apart”, p.37, Heinemann

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

Chinua Achebe

Okonkwo, Dry Bones, Things Fall Apart Important

FaceBook post by Chinua Achebe from Oct 28, 2014

Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness. It was deeper and more intimate that the fear of evil and capricious gods and of magic, the fear of the forest, and of the forces of nature, malevolent, red in tooth and claw. Okonkwo’s fear was greater than these. It was not external but lay deep within himself.

Chinua Achebe

Heart, Men, Okonkwo

Chinua Achebe (1996). “Things Fall Apart”, p.9, Heinemann

At the most one could say that his chi or ... personal god was good. But the Ibo people have a proverb that when a man says yes his chi says yes also. Okonkwo said yes very strongly; so his chi agreed.

Chinua Achebe

Men, Okonkwo, People

Chinua Achebe (1996). “Things Fall Apart”, p.19, Heinemann