Quotes for Friday from Ngugi wa Thiong'o's Weep Not, Child
My third reading of this book was for a Book Club discussion. The review here was written thirteen years after my last reading in 1998. Thus, I don't know whether I should review it again, now that the story is fresh in my mind or I should leave it just as it is. However, enjoy the quotes that came to me:
...[T]ime and bad conditions do not favour beauty. [3]
'Don't worry about me. Everything will be all right. Get education, I'll get carpentry. Then we shall, in the future, be able to have a new and better home for the whole family.' [4]
A fool, in the town's vocabulary, meant a man who had a wife who would not let him leave her lap even for a second. [9]
'Blackness is not all that makes a man,' Kamau said bitterly. 'There are some people, be they black or white, who don't want others to rise above them. They want to be the source of all knowledge and share it piecemeal to others less endowed. ... A rich man does not want others to get rich because he wants to be the only man with wealth.' [21]
'... A white man is a white man. But a black man trying to be white man is bad and rash.' [21]
[A] mother's silence is the worst form of punishment for it is left to one's imagination to conjure up what is in her mind. [35]
Education was good only because it would lead to the recovery of the lost lands. [39]
'... All white people stick together. But we black people are very divided. ...' [75]
'... Besides do you really think you'll be safer at home? I tell you there's no safety anywhere. There's no hiding in this naked land.' [83]
Yes. Sunshine always follows a dark night. We sleep knowing and trusting that the sun will rise tomorrow. [95]
'... Unless you kill, you'll be killed. So you go on killing and destroying. It's a law of nature. ...' [102]
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I loved the quote about a mother's silence . . .very true!
ReplyDeleteHave experienced that a lot.
ReplyDeletethanks for reminding me of this lines.
ReplyDelete@Geosi, always.
ReplyDelete