Nnedi Okorafor Quotes & Sayings

The Nuru men, and their women, had done what they did for more than torture and shame. They wanted to create Ewu children. Such children are not the children of forbidden love between a Nuru and an Okeke, nor are they Noahs, Okekes born without color. The Ewu are children of violence.

An Okeke woman will never kill a child kindled inside of her. She would go against even her husband to keep a child in her womb alive. However, custom dictates that the child is the child of her father. These Nuru had planted poison. An Okeke woman who gave birth to an Ewu child was bound to the Nuru through her child. — Nnedi Okorafor

I love and am terrified of the water, particularly the ocean. — Nnedi Okorafor

Two footsteps do not make a path. — Nnedi Okorafor

I think juju was worked on us at our Eleventh Rite. It's . . . probably broken with marriage." I looked hard at Luyu. "I think if you force intercourse, you'll die." "It is broken with marriage," Diti said nodding. "My cousin always talks about how only a pure woman attracts a man pure enough to bring pleasure to the marriage bed. She says her husband is the purest man around . . . probably because he was the first who didn't bring her pain." "Ugh," Luyu said, angrily. "We're tricked into thinking our husbands are gods. — Nnedi Okorafor

I grew up reading Stephen King, Peter Straub, Clive Barker, Robert McCammon, Isaac Asimov's nonfiction books, and Roald Dahl. — Nnedi Okorafor

I couldn't see the end of the corridor, so I stared at the entrance. The ship was a magnificent piece of living technology. Third Fish was a Miri 12, a type of ship closely related to a shrimp. Miri 12s were stable calm creatures with natural exoskeletons that could withstand the harshness of space. They were genetically enhanced to grow three breathing chambers within their bodies. Scientists planted rapidly growing plants within these three enormous rooms that not only produced oxygen from the CO2 directed in from other parts of the ship, but also absorbed benzene, formaldehyde, and trichloroethylene. This was some of the most amazing technology I'd ever read about. Once settled on the ship, I was determined to convince someone to let me see one of these amazing rooms. But at the moment, I wasn't thinking about the technology of the ship. I was on the threshold now, between home and my future. — Nnedi Okorafor

sharklike creature collide with Agu. A moment later, the creature was flying out of the water, hurled a hundred feet in the air. Adaora could see its great toothy jaws gape. Then splash! — Nnedi Okorafor

Anthony was calm as an underground river. Father Oke was a volcano ready to erupt. — Nnedi Okorafor

It's more fun to write villains. They are more of a challenge, and I get a sick kind of pleasure out of delving into their minds. There's rarely emptiness, and there is almost always deep intelligence. — Nnedi Okorafor

When she was afraid, nervous, or uncomfortable, all she had to do was focus on the science to feel balanced again. It was no different now. — Nnedi Okorafor

I love books . I adore everything about them. I love the feel of the pages on my fingertips. They are light enough to carry, yet so heavy with worlds and ideas . I love the sound of the pages flicking against my fingers. Print against fingerprints. Books make people quiet, yet they are so loud — Nnedi Okorafor

She'd been away a long time, seeing the world. Now, she had to get home. She had learned much while she was away. She knew about courage and fear, she knew about gain and loss. She certainly knew about love and anguish and murder of love. But now she was going to learn about mass death. She'd — Nnedi Okorafor

However, just because something isn't surprising doesn't mean it's easy to deal with. — Nnedi Okorafor

People get inspired to write, paint, draw, sing, sculpt, dance in many different ways. And there are many types of art. But the one thing that they all have in common is that they are all a sort of magic. Sometimes the magic flows from one's fingers, other times it is transferred to the person who experiences the result. Magic has always worked in mysterious ways. — Nnedi Okorafor

'Lagoon' is an ambitious novel. — Nnedi Okorafor

Neither (brother) even glaced at the counter. She smiled. Her dumb brothers never cooked. She didn't think they even knew how! A human being who needs food to live but cannot prepare that food to eat? Pathetic. In this case, it was an advantage. They weren't interested in any food until it had been cooked for them. — Nnedi Okorafor

I go to the ocean to calm down, to reconnect with the creator, to just be happy. — Nnedi Okorafor

He wished he were at his home in Abuja with a glass of cool Guinness, watching Star Wars on his high-definition widescreen television. He loved Star Wars, especially the more recent instalments. There was such honour in Star Wars. In another life, he'd have made a great Jedi knight. Being a vigilante loyal only to justice was always better than being any kind of head of state. — Nnedi Okorafor

To know someone's pain is to share in it. And to share in it is to relieve some of it. — Nnedi Okorafor

Silence is the best answer to a fool. — Nnedi Okorafor

Human beings make terrible gods. — Nnedi Okorafor

Just because you are American does not make you American. — Nnedi Okorafor

Nothing is wrong with me? I thought. Not unclean? It's just . . . a new part of me I need to learn to control? I'd come all this way to go on my pilgrimage because I'd thought my body was trying to tell me something was wrong with it. I hadn't wanted to admit it to myself, but I'd thought I'd broken myself because of the choices I'd made, because of my actions, because I'd left my home to go to Oomza Uni. Because of guilt. The relief I felt was so all encompassing that I wanted to lie down on the rug and just sleep. Ariya — Nnedi Okorafor

Prejudice begets prejudice, you see. Knowledge does not always evolve into wisdom. — Nnedi Okorafor

We prefer to explore the universe by traveling inward, as opposed to outward. — Nnedi Okorafor

It's ok to care about what other people think, but you should give a little more weight to what you, yourself, think ... The habit of thinking is the habit of gaining strength. You're stronger than you believe. — Nnedi Okorafor

You know how the story ends. He escaped and went on to become the greatest chief Suntown ever had. He never built a shrine or a temple or even a shack in the name of Tia. In the Great Book, her name is never mentioned again. He never mused about her or even asked where she was buried. Tia was a virgin. She was beautiful. She was poor. And she was a girl. It was her duty to sacrifice her life for his. — Nnedi Okorafor

Then I slid a slice of white milky dessert on my tray. I did not know its name, but it was easily the most wonderful thing I'd ever tasted. Each bite would fuel my mental well-being. — Nnedi Okorafor

Maybe I'm too scared to fly, but I'm brave enough to save your life. — Nnedi Okorafor

Look, Brother Chris, women are . . . weak vessels. It is identified in the Bible. — Nnedi Okorafor

the girl who was so lovely even her father couldn't resist her. — Nnedi Okorafor

Money and material things make you king or queen of the Lamb world. You can do no wrong, you can do anything. — Nnedi Okorafor

Sometimes a man must throw caution to the wind. — Nnedi Okorafor

Funny how all things people don't understand seem to be 'cursed'. — Nnedi Okorafor

To be something abnormal meant that you were to serve the normal. And if you refused, they hated you ... and often the normal hated you even when you did serve them. — Nnedi Okorafor

Then I noticed it. Red and oval-shaped with a white oval in the center, like the giant eye of a jinni. It sizzled and hissed, the white part expanding, moving closer. It horrified me to my very core. Must get out of here! I thought. Now! It sees me! But I didn't know how to move. Move with what? I had no body. The red was bitter venom. The white was like the sun's worst heat. I started screaming and crying again. Then I was opening my eyes to a cup of water. Everyone's face broke into a smile. "Oh, praise Ani," the Ada said. I felt the pain and jumped, about to get up and run. I had to run. From that eye. I was so mixed up that for a moment, I was sure that what I'd just seen was causing the pain. "Don't — Nnedi Okorafor

old doesn't always mean less advanced." I — Nnedi Okorafor

There will be danger; some of you may not live to complete your lessons. It's a risk you take. This world is bigger than you and it will go on, regardless. — Nnedi Okorafor

There's a story in 'Kabu Kabu' called 'Bakasi Man' where I got to explore the mind of a 'bad man.' It was fun. — Nnedi Okorafor

But I hoped he couldn't read my mind. No one needed to know that. Not even him. He chuckled, again. "That is to be decided by your actions, Phoenix. Not by your thoughts. — Nnedi Okorafor

We cried and sobbed and wept and bled tears. But when we were finished, all we could do was continue living. — Nnedi Okorafor

I see the world as a magical place. Therefore, it was only natural that magic wafted from my fiction like smoke. — Nnedi Okorafor

You might have liked the United States more,"" she said. "They've got more stuff. And if your spaceship is broken, they can probably fix it better. — Nnedi Okorafor

Is it not the worst pain to know there is a cure for your child's illness and then not be able to obtain it? Oh it must be the one of the worst types of pain in the world ... — Nnedi Okorafor

School will bring you more success than marriage. — Nnedi Okorafor

THE BOY AND THE LADY — Nnedi Okorafor

I want you to write yourself into history because no matter what history books say, even you are a part of it. — Nnedi Okorafor

Use your powers for good instead of evil — Nnedi Okorafor

Some of our old ways are better forgotten, but not all of them. — Nnedi Okorafor

Edgar never used the rhythm to do violence again. But when he got on stage, when he rapped and let the words flow from his tongue like warmed honey, he could feel it. It would be there when he needed it. So far, he hadn't needed it. — Nnedi Okorafor

All of them watched the footage, even Fisayo. After it finished, none of them said a word, yet in their minds, they saw plenty. Jacobs saw an end to living with parents who refused to accept him. His sister Fisayo saw all of Lagos in flames. Seven saw infinite possibilities and a people from outer space that could make the world embrace and love everyone. Rome saw the rise of Rome. — Nnedi Okorafor

Suffering is against the Way. Let us end you. — Nnedi Okorafor

We embrace those things that make us unique or odd. For only in these things can we locate and then develop our most individual abilities. — Nnedi Okorafor

This world is bigger than you and it will go on, regardless." What — Nnedi Okorafor

See? We never needed you. — Nnedi Okorafor

The tarantula scrambles faster, certain that he will make it across. Certain of his extraordinary speed. Crunch. — Nnedi Okorafor

would you have felt? — Nnedi Okorafor

Then there was Heru. I had never spoken to him, but we smiled across the table at each other during mealtimes. He was from one of those cities so far from mine that they seemed like a figment of my imagination, where there was snow and where men rode those enormous gray birds and the women could speak with those birds without moving their mouths. — Nnedi Okorafor

I slammed the door in the child's face, a horrific scream trapped in my throat. — Nnedi Okorafor

You are not crazy. You are just ready to change. — Nnedi Okorafor

Lambs think money and material things are the most important thing in the world. You can cheat, lie, steal, kill, be dumb as a rock, but if you can brag about money and having lots of things and your bragging is true, that bypasses everything. Money — Nnedi Okorafor

Adaora was beginning to see why Ayodele's people had chosen the city of Lagos. If they'd landed in New York, Tokyo or London, the governments of these places would have quickly swooped to hide, isolate and study the aliens. Here in Lagos, there was no such order. — Nnedi Okorafor

My father didn't believe in war. He said war was evil, but if it came he would revel in it like sand in a storm. — Nnedi Okorafor

I felt the pain and the glory of growth, was straining and shuddering with it. — Nnedi Okorafor

We all must travel,' the driver said, keeping his eyes on the way ahead. His hands grasped the wheel firmly. 'It is the essence of all things, to move and change and keep going forward and backward and around. Even the spirits and the dead. — Nnedi Okorafor

I would try to write 'realistic' fiction, and someone would fly, or there would be a black hole full of demons or a girl who attracted frogs. — Nnedi Okorafor

Science fiction is the only genre that enables African writers to envision a future from our African perspective. — Nnedi Okorafor

One of my feet is a whole size longer than the other. One is size ten, the other is size eleven. — Nnedi Okorafor

Life was out there and death was, too. I feared both now. — Nnedi Okorafor

'Who Fears Death' addresses the push and pull in African culture that powerful women face when their culture has certain duties and beliefs that can stifle them. — Nnedi Okorafor

My novel Who Fears Death is a post-apocalyptic novel set in a future Sudan. — Nnedi Okorafor

I have this obsession with destruction. — Nnedi Okorafor

I am the unseen. For centuries I have been here, beneath this great city, this metropolis. I know your language. I know all languages ... My cave is broad and cool. The sun cannot send its heat down here. The damp soil is rich and fragrant. I turn softly on my back and place my eight legs to the cave ceiling. Then, I listen. I am the spider. I see sound. I feel taste. I hear touch. I spin this story. This is the story I've spun. — Nnedi Okorafor

There are more valuable things in life than safety and comfort. Learn. You owe it to yourself. — Nnedi Okorafor

But deep down inside me, I wanted . . . I needed it. I couldn't help but act on it. The urge was so strong that it was mathematical. — Nnedi Okorafor

I love ocean life. I'm fascinated that so much of it remains unexplored by human beings. Diluted seawater consisted of nearly the same concentration of elements and minerals as blood plasma. They've got the same amount of sodium, too. — Nnedi Okorafor

You fit get me inside dere?" he asked, his voice lusty in her ear. "I go try, baby," she whispered. — Nnedi Okorafor

When are aliens ever not evil?"
"E.T.?" Rome said. — Nnedi Okorafor

I love writing about monsters and food. — Nnedi Okorafor

Flawed, imperfect creatures! That's what we both are, oga! That's what we ALL are! — Nnedi Okorafor

All through the night, she battled herself. Or battled to know herself. She fell apart and then put herself back together and then she fell apart again and put herself back together, over and over. — Nnedi Okorafor

I think speculative fiction has fewer unspoken prerequisites than literary fiction for writers of color. — Nnedi Okorafor

She flies higher than she's ever flown before, maybe she is trying to leave the earth. She isn't sure, she isn't thinking about it. She's far in her mind, deep in her own thoughts, the air on her wings feels amazing, she is swimming, rolling through the air as if it's water. She lifts her head as she flies and lets out a series of loud chirps. And that's when she sees it. The largest bat ever. Flying faster than any hawk or eagle or owl, roaring like some sort of monster. She doesn't know the human word 'dragon' otherwise she would call it that. There is no time to flee. No time to turn. No time to shriek, and no pain. It is like being thrown into the stars. — Nnedi Okorafor

Heru's chest burst — Nnedi Okorafor

The Magical Negro rested his red cane on his shoulder and leisurely strolled into the forest to see if he could find him some hobbits, castles, dragons, princesses, and all that other shit. — Nnedi Okorafor

How can a man slap his wife 'in the name of Jesus'? You instructed him to do so! You think I didn't see your e-mail to him a week ago? 'Break her with your hands, then soften her with flowers. — Nnedi Okorafor

Though I knew I shouldn't have cared, the words still hurt like pinches, and pinches can be very painful when done in the same place many times in a row. — Nnedi Okorafor