A Man of the People Quotes

“In such a regime, I say you died a good death if your life had inspired someone to come forward and shoot your murderer in the chest - without asking to be paid.”
― Chinua Achebe, A Man of the People

“Chief Nanga was a born politician; he could get away with almost anything he said or did. And as long as men are swayed by their hearts and stomachs and not their heads the Chief Nangas of the world will continue to get away with anything. He had that rare gift of making people feel - even while he was saying harsh things to them - that there was not a drop of ill will in his entire frame. I remember the day he was telling his ministerial colleague over the telephone in my presence that he distrusted our young university people and that he would rather work with a European. I knew I was hearing terrible things but somehow I couldn't bring myself to take the man seriously. He had been so open and kind to me and not in the least distrustful. The greatest criticism a man like him seemed capable of evoking in our country was an indulgent: 'Make you no min' am.”
― Chinua Achebe, A Man of the People

“Every man and every woman in Urua and every child and every adult would throw his or her paper for him on the day of election - as they had done in the past. If there was any other name called in the matter the elders and councillors of Urua had not heard it. He said this over and over again with minor changes in detail, like the omission of 'every child' which I noticed particularly because it had struck me as odd in the first place. And I thought: if the whole people had taken the decision why were they now being told of it?”
― Chinua Achebe, A Man of the People

“Somehow I found myself admiring the man for his lack of modesty. For what is modesty but inverted pride? We all think we are first-class people. Modesty forbids us from saying so ourselves though, presumably, not from
wanting to hear it from others.”
― Chinua Achebe, A Man of the People

“In such a regime, I say you died a good death if your life had inspired someone to come forward and shoot your murdered in the chest - without asking to be paid.”
― Chinua Achebe, A Man of the People

“Somehow I found myself admiring the man for his lack of modesty. For what is modesty but inverted pride? We all think we are first-class people. Modesty forbids us from saying so ourselves though, presumably, not from wanting to hear it from others.”
― Chinua Achebe, A Man of the People

“Somehow I found myself admiring the man for his lack of modesty. For
what is modesty but inverted pride? We all think we are first-class people.
Modesty forbids us from saying so ourselves though, presumably, not from
wanting to hear it from others. Perhaps it was their impatience with this kind
of hypocrisy that made men like Nanga successful politicians while starry-
eyed idealists strove vaingloriously to bring into politics niceties and
delicate refinements that belonged elsewhere.”
― Chinua Achebe, A Man of the People

“Somehow I found myself admiring the man for his lack of modesty. For what is modesty but inverted pride? We all think we are first-class people. Modesty forbids us from saying so ourselves though, presumably, not from wanting to hear it from others. Perhaps it was their impatience with this kind of hypocrisy that made men like Nanga successful politicians while starry-eyed idealists strove vaingloriously to bring into politics niceties and delicate refinements that belonged elsewhere.”
― Chinua Achebe, A Man of the People