Okonkwo Quotes:

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

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

topic: Children, Men, Okonkwo, Things Fall Apart Important, Things Fall Apart Okonkwo

Beware Okonkwo!" she warned. "Beware of exchanging words with Agbala. Does a man speak when a god speaks? Beware!

- Chinua Achebe

source: Chinua Achebe (2009). “Things Fall Apart: Authoritative Text, Contexts and Criticism”, W W Norton & Company Incorporated

topic: Men, Okonkwo, Doe, Exchanging, Things Fall Apart Important

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

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

topic: Men, Okonkwo, People, Things Fall Apart Important, Things Fall Apart Okonkwo

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

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

topic: Heart, Men, Okonkwo, Capricious, Things Fall Apart Okonkwo

Living fire begets cold, impotent ash.

- Chinua Achebe

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

topic: Fire, Okonkwo, Ashes, Things Fall Apart Important, Things Fall Apart Okonkwo

The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.

- Chinua Achebe

source: Chinua Achebe (2009). “Things Fall Apart: Authoritative Text, Contexts and Criticism”, W W Norton & Company Incorporated

topic: Brother, Clever, Fall, Very Clever, Okonkwo

The world is large,” said Okonkwo. “I have even heard that in some tribes a man’s children belong to his wife and her family.” “That cannot be,” said Machi. “You might as well say that the woman lies on top of the man when they are making the babies.

- Chinua Achebe

source: Chinua Achebe (2009). “Things Fall Apart: Authoritative Text, Contexts and Criticism”, W W Norton & Company Incorporated

topic: Baby, Children, Lying, Okonkwo, Lying Men

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

- Chinua Achebe

topic: Dry, Bones, Old Woman, Okonkwo, Dry Bones

"You sound as if you question the authority and the decision of the Oracle, who said he should die." "I do not. Why should I? But the Oracle did not ask me to carry out its decision." [...] "The Earth cannot punish me for obeying her mesenger," Okonkwo said. "A child's fingers are not scalded by a piece of hot yam which its mother puts into its palm."

- Chinua Achebe

source: "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe, Fawcett Premier edition, (p. 64), 1969.

topic: Mother, Children, Yams, Okonkwo, Things Fall Apart Okonkwo