Chinua Achebe quotes
1930 – 2013 · Nigeria, 20th century · novelist, poet, essayist, editor and literary critic
About Chinua Achebe
Born Albert Chinualumogu Achebe in Ogidi on 16 November 1930, died in Boston on 21 March 2013. He published Things Fall Apart in 1958, worked in broadcasting, teaching and editing, and argued that African societies should be represented on their own terms rather than through colonial stereotypes.
Works: Things Fall Apart; No Longer at Ease; The Arrow of God; Anthills of the Savannah
Quotes
“In dealing with a man who thinks you a fool it is good sometimes to remind him that you know what he knows but have chosen to appear foolish for the sake of peace”
Source: Arrow of God, 1964 · Check the source
Verified attributionWhat we know
- What is documented
- The sentence is documented in Chinua Achebe’s novel Arrow of God, first published in 1964.
- What remains uncertain
- The commonly circulated wording alters the novel’s phrasing—Achebe’s text reads “a fool,” while many reproductions insert “are a fool.”
Achebe frames restraint as a deliberate social tactic: you may fully grasp another’s point yet choose to hide it to keep peace. In Arrow of God this is strategic humility, a move that protects communal stability rather than simple capitulation.