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It is an aspect of Kenya I am always acutely aware of - and crave, because I don't have it all. My third language, Gikuyu, is nearly non-existent; I can't speak it. It is a phantom limb...

— Binyavanga Wainaina One Day I Will Write About This Place: A Memoir (2011)

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More quotes by Binyavanga Wainaina

My laugh is far away inside, like the morning car not starting when the key turns.

One Day I Will Write About This Place: A Memoir (2011)

Make sure you show how Africans have music and rhythm deep in their souls, and eat things no other humans eat.

How to Write About Africa (2005)

Science is smaller than music, than the patterns of the body; the large confident world of sound and body gathers. If my mind and body are quickening, lagging behind is a rising anxiety of words.

One Day I Will Write About This Place: A Memoir (2011)

Among your characters you must always include The Starving African, who wanders the refugee camp nearly naked, and waits for the benevolence of the West.

How to Write About Africa (2005)

We fail to trust that we knew ourselves to be possible from the beginning.

One Day I Will Write About This Place: A Memoir (2011)

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Attribution

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