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Quotes from Houseboy — Ferdinand Oyono

1929–2010 Cameroon

← All quotes by Ferdinand Oyono

24 quotes

There are things one prefers not to think about but that doesn't mean one forgets about them.

Houseboy (1956)

Everybody told his own little African story to refute him and demonstrate that the African is a child or a fool.

Houseboy (1956)

There are two worlds," said Baklu, "ours is a world of respect and mystery and magic. Their world brings everything in the daylight, even the things that weren't meant to be.

Houseboy (1956)

Life, he says, is like the chameleon, changing colour all the time.

Houseboy (1956)

I shall be the Chief European's boy. The dog of a king is a king of dogs.

Houseboy (1956)

Our ancestors used to say you must escape when the water is still only up to the knees.

Houseboy (1956)

Since when does the pot rub itself against the hammer?

Houseboy (1956)

The elephant does not rot in a secret place.

Houseboy (1956)

It is not the wolf that cries, but the goat.

Houseboy (1956)

The river does not go back to its spring.

Houseboy (1956)

Truth lies beyond the mountains. You must travel to find it.

Houseboy (1956)

I was alleviated by this discovery. It executed something within me … I realized I ought to never be startled of the Commandant again.

Houseboy (1956)

He let me go. Through the darkness I saw his white hands move in a gesture of disgust as if he had touched something unclean.

Houseboy (1956)

They lamented 'the Martyr' as they called Father Gilbert because he died on African soil.

Houseboy (1956)

The Commandant trod on my fingers as he went out. I did not cry out. He did not turn round.

Houseboy (1956)

But for me, it is more than mourning. I have died my first death….

Houseboy (1956)

Is the white man's neighbour only other white men? Who can go on believing the stuff we are served up in the churches when things happen like I saw today...

Houseboy (1956)

Ah, these whites, she burst out. The dog can die of hunger beside his master's meat. They don't bury the goat up to the horns. They bury him altogether.

Houseboy (1956)

If I talk it is because I have a mouth. If I see, it is because I have eyes. The eye goes farther and faster than the mouth, nothing stops it...

Houseboy (1956)

When will you grasp that for the whites, you are only alive to do their work and for no other reason. I am the cook. The white man does not see me except with his stomach.

Houseboy (1956)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Ferdinand Oyono (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.