The Book of Phoenix Quotes

“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, The Book of Phoenix

“To know someone's pain is to share in it. And to share in it is to relieve some of it.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, The Book of Phoenix

“Human beings make terrible gods.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, The Book of Phoenix

“Books make people quiet, yet they are so loud.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, The Book of Phoenix

“Who are the Big Eye? Are they a secret part of the American government or a powerful private corporation? Is there a difference?”
― Nnedi Okorafor, The Book of Phoenix

“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, The Book of Phoenix

“I speak my life into existence with each expressed breath I take. I tell you a story within which are more stories. Universes within universes. We are all spinning like small suns. I am like my own sun. I”
― Nnedi Okorafor, The Book of Phoenix

“Words are powerful when chosen well and hurled with precision.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, The Book of Phoenix

“I knew I could always return to my books. Not escape, return. I knew so much, but so little. You can have knowledge, but you are nothing without wisdom.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, The Book of Phoenix

“He smiled. “Go and stretch your wings.”

I don’t know why, but his words made me want to cry. I saw no cybernetic limbs, mutations, alterations, additions, or subtractions on Lurrenz. He was just a man. He was like the people I met on my way to Ghana. He accepted what I was as if it were normal. He gazed at me but didn’t stare. His world was big and there was room for me.

Saeed took my hand as I slowly got out and came around to the driver’s window. “Thank you,” I said to Lurrenz.

He took my free hand. “Jah will protect you.” Then he kissed my hand and let us go. I felt like I’d been blessed.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, The Book of Phoenix

“She’d told me stories while she caused me pain; she was what lies were made of”
― Nnedi Okorafor, The Book of Phoenix

“I was like the soft sweet flesh that falls out of the cracked hard shell of a walnut.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, The Book of Phoenix

“I love books. I adore everything about them. They are light enough to carry, yet so heavy with worlds and ideas. Books make people quiet, yet they are so loud.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, The Book of Phoenix

“To know someone’s pain is to share in it. And to share in it is to relieve some of it.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, The Book of Phoenix

“Names are powerful. They have a way of becoming destiny. They should not be shared with just anyone.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, The Book of Phoenix

“Women brought life but the most important origin stories spoke the real truth, which was that women more often brought death.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, The Book of Phoenix

“They were like all Americans. They could not see what was right before their eyes. They certainly didn't see the rest of the world.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, The Book of Phoenix

“I thought you trusted this guy," I hissed.

"I don't trust any black man savvy enough to become a member of Congress," he snapped.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, The Book of Phoenix

“Even from where I stood I could tell that they were American. Their body language. The way they wore their clothes. The rhythm of their loud voices stabbing at the morning's peace. Their confidence. That aura of entitlement. Kofi would later tell me that this entitlement swagger was something white men from every part of the world had when in rural Africa, but that is beside the point.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, The Book of Phoenix

“I relaxed, putting America behind me. What a weight that place put on my shoulders; a woman with wings should never be so burdened.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, The Book of Phoenix

“One must stop time to listen to a story.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, The Book of Phoenix

“He accepted what I was as if it were normal. He gazed at me but didn’t stare. His world was big and there was room for me.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, The Book of Phoenix

“I knew so much, but so little. You can have knowledge, but you are nothing without wisdom.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, The Book of Phoenix

“But now I see something new in your eyes. Now, when I look into them it's like looking into a mirror. Your innocence is gone."
"Death will do that," I wanted to say. But I did not.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, The Book of Phoenix

“Are they a secret part of the American government or a powerful private corporation? Is there a difference? To me, it doesn’t matter. It’s the same ends.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, The Book of Phoenix

“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, The Book of Phoenix

“They called me Okore. It meant “eagle” in Twi, though I felt my wings were more like an albatross’. But there is no word for albatross in “Twi,” so Okore was fine.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, The Book of Phoenix

“This man was one of those who enjoyed being out there for weeks on end, close to the sun, sand, and desert creatures. The time away from his wife made their time together sweeter. Sunuteel and his wife agreed on this. They were old. They had wisdom. “Go”
― Nnedi Okorafor, The Book of Phoenix