Skip to content

The whiteman told of another country beyond the sea where a powerful woman sat on a throne while men and women danced under the shadow of her authority and benevolence. She was ready to spread the shadow to cover the [Gikuyu]. They laughed at this eccentric man whose skin had been so scalded that the black outside had peeled off.

— Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o A Grain of Wheat (1967)

Another quote →

More quotes by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o

The voice of the people is the voice of God.

Devil on the Cross (1980)

Gikonyo greedily sucked sour pleasure from this reflection which he saw as a terrible revelation. To live and die alone is the ultimate truth.

A Grain of Wheat (1967)

Gatuĩria was at least aware that the slavery of language is the slavery of the mind and nothing to be proud of."

Devil on the Cross (1980)

As for carrying a gun for the whiteman, well, a time will come when you too will know that every man in the world is alone, and fights alone, to live.”

A Grain of Wheat (1967)

Therefore there are two hearts: the heart built by the clan of parasites, the evil heart; and the heart built by the clan of producers, the good heart."

Devil on the Cross (1980)

All Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o quotes →

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.