"Silence. Silenced transmission of Pressurised good-breeding. Voice, when it came,HOW DARK ?’… I had not misheard… ‘ARE YOU LIGHT OR VERY DARK ?’ Button B. Button A. Stench"

"(Aidoo, p. 53)"

"My sisters and I would sit at my father’s feet, and he’d explain the ways of the world, how magic had been with us from the beginning. In a land of poor farmers, there were too many variables for God and man alone. To compensate for this imbalance, he said, magic existed as a third and powerful force."

"We have heard too,"

"How would I know what he is like. Doeshe not come from Nsona House? And is not thatone of the best Houses that are here in Yebi? Hashe an ancestor who has unclothed himself tonakedness, had the unmentionable, killed himselfor another man?"

"I know everyone calls you Sissie, but what is your name?"

"(Sissie's Lover, p. 131)"

"(Aidoo, p. 111)"

"(Aidoo, p. 101)"

"Said an anxious Afro-American student to a visiting African professor, "Sir, please, tell me: is Egypt in Africa?""

"Her half normal self regretted her inability to see Kunle's vision even then."

"(Sissie, p. 117)"

"(Aidoo, p. 6)"

"It happens all the time."

"Oh no. The academic-pseudo-intellectual version is even more dangerous, who in the face of reality that is more tangible than the massive walls of the slave forts standing along our beaches, still talks of universal truth, universal art, universal literature and the Gross National Product."

"“For a child to grow up to be a heaven-worthy individual, he had to have above all, a Christian name.”"

"“For the rest of her life, she was to regret this moment when she was made to notice differences in human colouring.”"

"Of rancid breath of public hide-and-speak.Pushed dumbfounded to beg simplification."

"(Aidoo, p. 49)"

"(Aidoo, p. 42)"

"Child bearing is always profitable. For were not our fathers wise. Who looked upon the motion of our livesAnd said,They ask for the people of the houseAnd not the money in it? There is nothing that can compare with being a parent, my sister."

"“Sissie could see it all. In her uncertain eyes, on her restless hands and on her lips, which she kept biting all the time. But oh, her skin. It seemed as if according to the motion of her emotions Marija's skin kept switching on and switching off like a two-colour neon sign. So that watching her against the light of the dying summer sun, Sissie could not help thinking that it must be a pretty dangerous matter, being white. It made you feel awfully exposed, rendered you terribly vulnerable. Like being born without your skin or something. As though the Maker had fashioned the body of a human, stuffed it into a polythene bag instead of the regular protective covering, and turned it loose into the world. Lord, she wondered, is that why, on the whole, they have had to be extra ferocious? Is it so they could feel safe here on the earth, under the sun, the moon and the stars?”"

"“And yet, I have not wronged you, have I? Indeed if there is anyone I may have sinned against, it is me. That desiring you as I do, needing you as I do, I still let you go.”"

"“One had said, 'You say you come from Ghaanna? Then we have a lot in common!' Sissie didn't know what to do with the statement, uncertain of whether it was a threat or a promise. 'We had chiefs like you,' the Scot went on, 'who fought one another and all, while the Invader marched in.' Sissie thanked her, but also felt strongly that their kinship had better end right there.”"

"“From all around the Third World, you hear the same story; rulers asleep to all things at all times - conscious only of riches, which they gather in a coma - intravenously. So that you wouldn't know they were feeding if it was not for the occasional tell-tale trickle somewhere around the mouth. And when they are jolted awake, they stare about them with unseeing eyes, just sleepwalkers in a nightmare.”"

"“Yes. Work is love made visible.”"

"“Clearly, she was enjoying herself to see that woman hurt. It was nothing she had desired. Nor did it seem as if she could control it, this inhuman sweet sensation to see another human being squirming. It hit her like a stone, the knowledge that there is pleasure in hurting. A strong three-dimensional pleasure, an exclusive masculine delight that is exhilarating beyond all measure. And this too is God's gift to man? She wondered.”"

"“We are victims of our history and our present. They place too many obstacles in the way of love. And we cannot enjoy even our differences in peace.”"

"his male business about who begat whom"

"“But what she also came to know was that someone somewhere would always see in any kind of difference, an excuse to be mean.”"

"“Sissie knew that she had to stop herself from crying. Why weep for them? In fact, stronger in her was the desire to ask somebody why the entire world has had to pay so much and is still paying so much for some folks' unhappiness.”"

"“A dog among the masters, the most masterly of the dogs.”"

"A prophet with a locked mouth is neither a prophet nor a man”"

"But in the end, they are not people. They become too much like the Gods they interpret”"

"Considerate she was, varying the emphasis ARE YOU DARK? OR VERY LIGHT?’ Revelation came.“down in my passport.” Silence for spectroscopic Flight of fancy, till truthfulness changed her accent"

"Kings are only men, and whatever iron cannot achieve against them, words can. Kings, too, are susceptible to flattery, so Soumaoro's anger abated, his heart filled with joy as he listened attentively to this sweet music."

"“For instance, it is quite clear now that all of the peoples of the earth have not always wished one another well. Indeed we are certain now, are we not, that so many people have wished us ill. They wish us ill. They have always done. They still do.”"

"To husband his wives surely ought to be / A man's first duties—at all times."

"I do not hate progress, only its nature / Which makes all roofs and faces look the same."

"How often must I tell you, Sidi, that / A grown-up girl must cover up her... / Her... shoulders? I can see quite... quite / A good portion of—that!"

"What I boast is known in Lagos, that city / Of magic, in Badagry where Saro women bathe / In gold, even in smaller towns less than / Twelve miles from here..."

"Bush-girl you are, bush girl you'll always be; / Uncivilized and primitive—bush-girl!"

"Would I choose a watered-down, / A beardless version of unripened man?"

"She'll be found ... in a dark corner / Sulking like a slighted cockroach."

"My Ruth, my Rachel, Esther, Bathsheba / Thou sum of fabled perfections / From Genesis to Revelations"

"Everything you say, Bale, / Seems wise to me."

"Will the smell of the wet soil be too much for your delicate nostrils?"