African Ancestral Quotes & Sayings

What higher obligation does a President have than to explain his intentions to the people and persuade them that the direction he wishes to go is right? — Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.

Designers take care of everything around us. Everything that is around us, this table, this chair, this lamp, this pen has been designed. All of these things, everything has been designed by somebody. — Massimo Vignelli

I can think of few things more disastrous than starting a new correspondence with any one. Letters are a burden indeed ... they seem often the last straw that breaks the back ... you should see the piles of those that I must answer that litter and weight my writing table. — Rose Macaulay

I feel that the English language will be able to carry the weight of my African experience. But it will have to be a new English, still in full communion with its ancestral home but altered to suit new African surroundings. — Chinua Achebe

The best book, like the best speech, will do it all - make us laugh, think, cry and cheer - preferably in that order. — Madeleine Albright

Expressions to designate homosexuality exist in some fifty (Sub-Saharan) African languages - gor-jigeen in Wolof, ngochani in Shona, Hasini in Nandi, 'yan daudu in Hausa, mashoga ("passive" homosexual), mabasha ("virile" partner) in Kiswahili. [They refer] to ancestral practices in "traditional", that is pre-industrial, societies [...]. — Chantal Zabus

At 20 a man is a peacock, at 30 a lion, at 40 a camel, at 50 a serpent, at 60 a dog, at 70 an ape, and at 80 nothing — Baltasar Gracian

It is not weird for a dad to be doing the dishes, the laundry, and taking the kids to school, and read them stories for bed. — Zach Cregger

Middle-aged women on telly is a bit of a hot topic - before, we were 27 to 37, and now we're 40 to 50. You do notice as you get older ... you go past 35, and suddenly you're playing baddies. — Sally Phillips

To .. all the dispossessed youth of Africa: for perpetuation of communion with ancestral spirits through the fight for African freedom, and in the firm faith that the dead, the living, and the unborn will unite to rebuild the destroyed shrines. — Jomo Kenyatta

But most critically, sweet, never try to change the narrative structure of someone else's story, though you will certainly be tempted to, as you watch those poor souls in school, in life, heading unwittingly down dangerous tangents, fatal digressions from which they will unlikely be able to emerge. Resist the temptation. Spend your energies on your story. Reworking it. Making it better. — Marisha Pessl

Love is like going fishing, you never know what size fish will be taken out of the water, but big or small you will be the one deciding to either kill it or keep it close to you under good care and nature it. But firstly you have to take the courage to go fishing. — Marcus L. Lukusa

For children to take morality seriously they must be in the presence of adults who take morality seriously. And with their own eyes they must see adults take morality seriously. — William Bennett

The thing about stereotyping is it's usually just throwing rocks into a crowd hoping to hit somebody who deserves it. — Criss Jami

There's no remaking reality ... Just take it as it comes. Hold your ground and take it as it comes. There's no other way. — Philip Roth

The essence of poetry is will and passion. — William Hazlitt

Even my landlord, who is a moderate Lebanese guy, says, "But bin Laden says what we think." These people believe that bin Laden is being targeted not because of the World Trade Center and Washington; they are not convinced by the evidence that has been produced. They believe he's being targeted because he tells the truth. — Robert Fisk