Nnedi Okorafor > Quotes

“Flawed, imperfect creatures! That's what we both are, oga! That's what we ALL are!”
― Nnedi Okorafor, Who Fears Death

“We embrace those things that make us unique or odd. For only in these things can we locate and then develop our most individual abilities.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, Akata Witch

“Though I knew I shouldn’t have cared, the words still hurt like pinches, and pinches can be very painful when done in the same place many times in a row.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, Zahrah the Windseeker

“There are more valuable things in life than safety and comfort. Learn. You owe it to yourself.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, Akata Witch

“We prefer to explore the universe by traveling inward, as opposed to outward.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, Binti

“It's ok to care about what other people think, but you should give a little more weight to what you, yourself, think...The habit of thinking is the habit of gaining strength. You're stronger than you believe.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, Zahrah the Windseeker

“However, just because something isn’t surprising doesn’t mean it’s easy to deal with.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, Binti

“Silence is the best answer to a fool.”
― Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu, Zahrah the Windseeker

“I love books . I adore everything about them. I love the feel of the pages on my fingertips. They are light enough to carry, yet so heavy with worlds and ideas . I love the sound of the pages flicking against my fingers. Print against fingerprints. Books make people quiet, yet they are so loud”
― Nnedi Okorafor, The Book of Phoenix

“To be something abnormal meant that you were to serve the normal. And if you refused, they hated you... and often the normal hated you even when you did serve them.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, Who Fears Death

“We cried and sobbed and wept and bled tears. But when we were finished, all we could do was continue living.”
― Nnedi Okorafor

“There will be danger; some of you may not live to complete your lessons. It's a risk you take. This world is bigger than you and it will go on, regardless.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, Akata Witch

“They say that when faced with a fight you cannot win, you can never predict what you will do next. But I'd always known I'd fight until I was killed.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, Binti

“Funny how all things people don’t understand seem to be ‘cursed’.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, Zahrah the Windseeker

“My father didn’t believe in war. He said war was evil, but if it came he would revel in it like sand in a storm.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, Binti

“They’re capable of great things, but potential doesn’t equal success.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, Akata Witch

“They don’t teach them to understand others, they teach them to expect others to understand them,” he said in English. He humphed and said, “Americans.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, Akata Witch

“People are too focused on money. It’s supposed to be a tool, not the prize to be won.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, Akata Witch

“I want you to write yourself into history because no matter what history books say, even you are a part of it.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, The Shadow Speaker

“Lambs think money and material things are the most important thing in the world. You can cheat, lie, steal, kill, be dumb as a rock, but if you can brag about money and having lots of things and your bragging is true, that bypasses everything. Money and material things make you king or queen of the Lamb world. You can do no wrong, you can do anything.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, Akata Witch

“Lesson one,” Anatov said. “And this is for all of you. Learn how to learn. Read between the lines. Know what to take and what to discard.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, Akata Witch

“The way people on Oomza Uni were so diverse and everyone handled that as if it were normal continued to surprise me. It was so unlike Earth, where wars were fought over and because of differences and most couldn't relate to anyone unless they were similar.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, The Night Masquerade

“To know someone's pain is to share in it. And to share in it is to relieve some of it.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, The Book of Phoenix

“Her story travelled like an ancestor, always ahead of, beside and behind her.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, Remote Control

“Home will never be the same once you know what you are. Your whole life will change.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, Akata Witch

“Change was constant. Change was my destiny. Growth.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, Home

“I was young but I hated like a middle-aged man at the end of his prime.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, Who Fears Death

“No matter what choice I made, I was never going to have a normal life, really. I looked around and immediately knew what to do next.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, Binti

“I believed I could only be great if I were curious enough to seek greatness.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, Binti

“A tree with strong roots laughs at storms.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, The Night Masquerade