28 quotes found
"Hating, after all, was a drier form of drowning."
"The pieces of life, even when put together, assembled, never amount to the life itself."
"She understood what perhaps they are only just learning. That if you attempt to clean the messiness of life you end up scrubbing the life away from living. We can't excise joy from pain."
"Coming from across cultures, I believe I mostly value difference as opposed to being threatened by it... Over time as I gain in knowledge and become braver I hope to set more stories solidly in Nigeria or Barbados but you cannot, as a writer, fake familiarity with a place – I don’t think so anyway."
"My mother died when I was 23, and apart from the recent birth of my children, that is the most profound experience of my life. The grief that followed is a sharp memory of mine and I’ve often joked that the experience irrevocably marked my writing."
"Regardless of how many years I’ve lived in South Africa I think of myself as a product of three nations: Barbados, Nigeria and South Africa. Nigeria forms a very strong part of my sense of myself, my identity"
"Identity is complex. I love being a Nigerian, I love belonging to that identity even if my belonging is complex, due to my multiple identities and migratory life experience"
"When I think of dangerous women I don’t think of women in whose presence I am in danger. When I think of dangerous women I think of women in whose presence the dangers of life finally meet their match. The kind of dangers I’m talking about are the hypocrisies, the patriarchy, the rules that are no rules at all but simply ways to cheat freedom and oppress those who dare sing out"
"Dangerous women show up sometimes, they disturb something"
"Many of the women on the island of my birth are like this. Their bow tongues launch arrows into the world and never miss their mark"
"My grandmother was one such woman. For very long she convinced me only of her sweetness until one day when I commented on how lovely she was she, holding a pot of boiling water, said Muh dear there was time when I throw this water on you soon as look as yuh. It would appear, I learnt, that my sweet grandmother once had a temper. Most dangerous women do, an important ability to access their rage whose existence alone runs counter to nursery rhymes we were fed about sugar and nice"
"My mother’s cousins. Dangerous in the sense that they take up magnificent space, they know what it is to laugh even though they have cried too"
"I believed that the woman in front of me, frail and sitting, had eaten life, swallowed it completely whole. I imagine she danced, fell in love, made love, made children, made lives, and set people straight with her arrow-words. And you know, danger, in the way it manifests in these women, has never been more allowing or more generous"
"This is a new kind of meaning, this danger. A serious kind of love. For oneself, one’s kin; and what life is meant for. Dangerous. I didn’t say it then; I was too young and answered Doctor or Mother but ask me now what I wish to be when I grow up"
"Every cake is unique; whether it is simple or complex."
"Make it simple but significant and if it has to be complex, never leave out the important details."
"Cakes are a very significant part of celebrations."
"We were each born for some higher purpose and it is now our cosmic mission to find it."
"Baking is pure chemistry."
"We live in a competitive world and there is no business where one would not have a competitor who offers similar products"
"Barbie has created a new phenomenon, celebrating femininity, independence and female power"
"The way Barbie dresses is very skimpy and different and there’s nothing wrong with it. I just wanted to give another option for Muslim girls like me"
"It is really important to have a good heart and I try to check my heart all the time just to make sure I am being good and not forget that, as it is really close and tied to my religion"
"We can say all we want about a woman's place or role in any given society but I really just wish it was something that can be implemented. In Islam, the true place of women comes from a place of strength, respect and a higher status, as I am sure it is for Nigeria and in the arts too—we have so many examples to support this but it is still upsetting when we conveniently forget all these because we do not want to shake the table."
"I want Hijarbie to inspire the Muslim girl child. It's about having a doll that looks like her, that represents her own cultural and religious background."
"But the point of Hijarbie is not only to show how beautiful and trendy modest style can be,it's also about showing girls who may wear a hijab themselves that they are no less beautiful or special than Barbie herself."
"I think the most important thing to have as a Muslim or a non-Muslim is a very good character.The hijab is actually more about modesty than fashion but who says you can’t incorporate both together? Fashion with faith."
"Putting your ideas out is sometimes the most important thing to do. Once released, it takes on a life of its own. Stop procrastinating, just do it!"