Quotes
Listed here are favorite quotes, from Matigari. Quotes that inspire, or give a strong visual image, or just admiration the author's use of words .... poetic, lyrical, straightforward, cultural, etc ....
... notes on other novels by Ngugi wa Thiong'o
Petals of Blood Quotes: Out with foreign rule policed by colonized blackskins! Out with exploitation of our sweat! Spurs, stirrups, metal horseback, rider in a cloud of dust. The road was as treacherous as those hags and brats and cripples, he thought, riding through ruts and bumps and ditches. He became a daily feature in Ilmorog, a guardian knight of knowledge for part-time pupils. It was a solitary red beanflower in a field dominated by white,blue, and violet flowers. No matter how you looked at it, it gave you the impression of a flow of blood. To be made perfect, Munira started slowly, looking to the ground, absorbed in thoughts he did not know he had, speaking from a past he should have forgotten, crossing valleys and hills and ridges and plains of time to the beginning of his death, you must be able to scrub a dish to a shine brighter than the original, or as we would say in Siriana, out pray Jesus in prays of devotion. ... a lot of words is poison, a few words are
He took off his coat, carried it over his right shoulder and strode on, the sun shining directly into his face. Bit still he did not waver or look back. Black-eyed susans and other weeds clung to his clothes as though welcoming him back to the fields. So much heat! So much dust! What trials one had to endure on this earthly journey! But there was no arrival without the effort of moving feet.
ReplyDeleteThose who eat alone, die alone.
ReplyDeleteVictory is born of struggle. There is no night so long that it does not end with dawn.
ReplyDeleteChildren and madmen hate each other like Satan and the Cross.
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ReplyDeleteHands are the makers of human history.
ReplyDelete... a nation's beauty was borne in a child, a future patriot
ReplyDeleteHe who sows must be the one that reaps! We refuse to be the pot that cooks but never eats the food!
ReplyDeleteWherever you find twelve people gathered, one of them will always be an informer, a traitor.
ReplyDelete"Go! Go to the wise men, those who know how to read the stars."
ReplyDelete"Do they still exist? " he asked. "I thought that the shepherds were the wise men, for they have always studied the stars. The stars used to guide them in the wilderness. It was durings their wanderings that the composed songs containing all the wisdom gathered from the stars! But weren't they the ones I found bending over their radios, listening to the Voice of Truth to get guidance in the wilderness? They no longer study the stars. They study the Voice of Truth ..."
"Go then and plead with those who study books. Books are the modern stars. Those who study them are the wise men of today.
... Far better are those who are going to gaol singing songs of courage rooted in their commitment to truth and justice ...
ReplyDelete... a weary bird will perch and nest on any tree.
ReplyDeleteIt dawned on him that one could not defeat the enemy with arms alone, but one could also not defeat the enemy with words alone. One had to have the right words; but these words had to be strengthened by the force of arms. In the pursuit of truth and justice one had to be armed with armed words.
ReplyDeleteMisfortune knows no regrets. It cannot be predicted.
ReplyDelete... too much fear breeds misery in the land.
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