"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?"

"he is witness to the devastation and effects the civil war has on his village"

"“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.”"

"“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.”"

"Foolishly madam—by sitting down, has turned My bottom raven black—One moment madam!’—sensing Her receiver rearing on the thunderclap About my ears—‘Madam,’ I pleaded, ‘wouldn’t you rather See for yourself ?’"

"disfigured with a deep corrugation” and she has “a livid gash along the side of her face"

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

"The veiled woman intrigues him and he does not overtly judge her or fear her the way other children in the village do"

"Thunder began to rum,ble and swift lightning rent the clouds."

"[O]ne black caller after another says: I vote ANC, but they have made a mistake”"

"The ANC has fought a just war and therefore could not have committed gross human-rights violations”"

"No one can destroy whites—they have survival in their bones. But for us, if we don’t stand together no matter what, we’ll be wiped out."

"the marrow of my bones”"

"I lay sole responsibility for that with F.W. de Klerk. De Klerk knew of the hit squads but [he] chose to do nothing about it”"

"given above in the exact words in which he spoke it”"

"It soon becomes clear that overseas journalists are interested only in the amnesty-seekers and whether there will be important politicians among them.”"

"new and chilling direction”"

"his male business about who begat whom"

"Truth Commission Bill was signed into law by President Nelson Mandela on July 19, 1995”"

"the real beginning of the end of the apartheid”"

"a shift from individual tales to the collective, from victims to the masterminds, from the powerless to those in power”"

"Every discussion opens up a new problem area”"

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

"By not dealing with past human rights violations, we are not simply protecting the perpetrators' trivial old age ; we are thereby ripping the foundations of justice from beneath new generations."

"the authorization of assassination, murder, torture, rape, assault”"

"People thought that the Truth Commission would be this quick fix, this Rugby World Cup scenario, and that we would go through the process and fling our arms around each other and be blood brothers forevermore. And that is nonsense--absolute nonsense. The TRC is where the reality of this country is hitting home and hitting home very hard. And that is good. But there will be no grand release--every individual will have to devise his or her own personal method of coming to terms with what has happened."

"All the women are asked whether they feel there should be women on the commission. No man is asked whether he feels there should be women on the commission. Nobody is asked whether they feel there should be men on the commission."

"But, somehow, in time, I began to connect a few threads, and things became clearer as if I was emerging from a mist. I learned that our land was not quite our land; that our compound was part of a property owned by an African landlord, Lord Reverend Stanley Kahahu, or Bwana Stanley, as we called him; that we were now the ahoi, tenants at will. How did we come to be ahoi on our own land? Had we lost our traditional land to Europeans? The mist had not cleared entirely."

"Belief in yourself is more important than endless worries of what others think of you. Value yourself and others will value you. Validation is best that comes from within."

"Surely my mother could do anything to which she set her mind"

"‘He was caught red-handed,’ some were saying. Imagine, bullets in his hands. In broad daylight.’Everybody, even we children, knew that for an African to be caught with bullets or empty shells was treason; he would be dubbed a terrorist, and his hanging by the rope was the only outcome.We could hear gunfire,’ some were saying.I saw them shoot at him with my own eyes.’But he didn’t die!’‘Die? Hmm! Bullets flew at those who were shooting.’No, he flew into the sky and disappeared into the clouds.’"

"a practical and psychological assault on the African initiative for self-reliance”"

"uninhabited” lands and brought “medicine, progress, and peace” to Africans"

"Written words can also sing."

"He had restored something we had lost, pride in our teachers, pride in ourselves”"

"No man or woman can choose their biological nationality. The conflicts between peoples cannot be explained in terms of that which is fixed (the invariables). Otherwise the problems between any two peoples would always be the same at all times and places; and further, there would never be any solution to social conflicts except through a change in that which is permanently fixed, for example through genetic or biological transformation of the actors."

"It seems it is the fate of Africa to have her destiny always decided around conference tables in the metropolises of the western world"

"narrowly escaped death”"

"a strange woman with a black veil over her head”"

"three different models of modernity and tradition”"

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

"And everyone wants to know: Who? Why? The victims ask the hardest of all the questions: How is it possible that the person I loved so much lit no spark of humanity in you?"

"He does not tell them his real name and lies about having seen the veiled woman"

"“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.”"

"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."