Because of writers like Chinua Achebe and Camara Laye … I realized that people like me, girls with skin the color of chocolate, whose kinky hair could not form ponytails, could also exist in literature.
Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieRead
In primary school in south-eastern Nigeria, I was taught that Hosni Mubarak was the president of Egypt. I learned the same thing in secondary school. In university, Mubarak was still president of Egypt. I came to assume, subconsciously, that he - and others like Paul Biya in Cameroon and Muammar Gaddafi in Libya - would never leave.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects the assumption of enduring leadership in certain countries based on educational teachings.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie reflects on her educational experience in Nigeria, where she was taught about prominent leaders like Hosni Mubarak, Paul Biya, and Muammar Gaddafi throughout her schooling. Her continued exposure to the same information led her to develop a subconscious belief that these leaders would remain in power indefinitely, illustrating how education can shape perceptions of political stability and the permanence of leadership.
Themes
LeadershipEducationPoliticsAssumptionPower
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about political longevity, this quote can highlight how education shapes perceptions of leadership.
More from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
All quotes →The real tragedy of our postcolonial world is not that the majority of people had no say in whether or not they wanted this new world; rather, it is that the majority have not been given the tools to negotiate this new world.
Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieRead
If I had not grown up in Nigeria- and if all I knew of Africa were of popular images- I too would think that africa was a place of beautiful landscapes, beautiful animals and incomprehensible people fighting sensless wars, dying of poverty and aids- unable to speak for themselves and waiting to be saved by a kind white foreigner.
Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieRead
Stories can break the dignity of a people, but stories can also repair that broken dignity.
Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieRead
You can't write a script in your mind and then force yourself to follow it. You have to let yourself be.
Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieRead
Non-fiction, and in particular the literary memoir, the stylised recollection of personal experience, is often as much about character and story and emotion as fiction is.
Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieRead
Similar quotes
Our Republic and its press will rise or fall together.
Joseph PulitzerRead
I don't think it's at all weakening of the system if people with the same last name put themselves forward to the electorate, when their experiences, their character, and in my case, gender, may be different.
Hillary ClintonRead
If a novelist had concocted a villain like Trump - a larger-than-life, over-the-top avatar of narcissism, mendacity, ignorance, prejudice, boorishness, demagoguery, and tyrannical impulses, she or he would likely be accused of extreme contrivance and implausibility.
Michiko KakutaniRead
If a politician found he had cannibals among his constituents, he would promise them missionaries for dinner.
H. L. MenckenRead
As we speak, Iran has rolled back its nuclear program, shipped out its uranium stockpile, and the world has avoided another war.
Barack ObamaRead
I am a freeman, an American, a United States Senator, and a Democrat, in that order.
Lyndon B. JohnsonRead