Quotes for Friday from Chenjerai Hove's Shadows

Exile wields the hammer of darker memories. Where the victim and the victimizer embrace, who shall intervene, and clouds of rain pour down on the sky's rejects. 
Page 44

There are many homesteads which will remain intact, with children and dogs chasing after hopeless bones and fireflies. But his home will not be a home. It will be a home of graves, ancestors, shadows, broken walls leaning on tired ear.
Page 45

When the small bull grow horns, it must learn to defend itself...
Page 46

A silent man will die in the silence of his foolishness.
Page 49

[A] man who broods about his problems alone is likely to bewitch others. Talking is the medicine for troubles. 
Page 50

If this is what my foot can carry me to, I choose the buttocks which make me sit near the grave of my ancestors. The lizard with a broken tail must learn to play near the cave.
Page 50

An old death is better. Everyone dies when the years have left them behind. Everyone joins the womb of the earth on their way to the ancestors. To die the way you died, that is pain. That is the pain which eats the cracked feet of a sleeper. The sleeper tries to wake up, the rat blows some fresh air on to the wound so that the sleeper can sleep until the whole sole of the foot is a big wound.
Page 54

When the earth speaks, even the deaf hear. They listen carefully because things of the earth cannot be allowed to leave without entering the ears of all.
Page 54

[A] man who runs away from death will run into death.
Page 56

If a man overeats and then takes a spear to stab the granary which stores the food, he should not blame someone else when tomorrow his stomach starts rumbling with hunger.
Page 57

[A] man who refused to be warned only remembers the warning when his forehead is covered with wounds.
Page 79

It is the noisy bird which gets the stone from the catapult...
Page 82

An injured man must not feel pity for himself, otherwise he will live in sorrow for the rest of his life.
Page 86

The stump that hits the toes of the person walking in front of you will also hit the toe of the person walking behind. When the big finger burns, the small ones also burn.
Page 102
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Comments

  1. Geosi21 June 2011 at 14:15

    Wonderful quotes, I think.The one that strikes me the more is a man who runs away from death... Thanks for this.

    ReplyDelete
  2. ImageNations21 June 2011 at 14:20

    @Geosi, can we really run away from death? Guess not.

    ReplyDelete

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