"As I had grown into a young woman she says, I could no longer bear the authority of the very one who did not protect me. I had only one desire: to go away, from my mother, my family, my country"

"As I am reaching the halfway mark in my life she says, I am full of projects and hope to bring them to fruition in my land of birth. Africa is looking forward... but for the time being, serenely, I cherish the pleasure to be back home, looking at the silvery sea like Ulysses after his long, eventful journey home"

"I was dragged away by the old hag in a plane whose doors closed behind me like those of a safe: or a tomb. After my mutilation, this kidnapping was for me a second death"

"I embodied the most arrogant and admired kind of femininity, I who was supposed to be diminished"

"One day, my mother said we were going to the cinema. And I found myself the victim of a horror movie, an unimaginable trauma that I had never managed to talk about, until I found love and wrote In My Flesh"

"Let's draw attention to the religious, medical, psychological and social realities of this ancestral practice"

"I was inflicted – with no anaesthetic, of course – this very private and irreversible mutilation in the name of ancestral custom"

"“For a lot of women, as we advance in leadership, we become so isolated and there’s no one to bounce anything off… No matter how rough the journey is, if you’re building your relationships with people behind you, with you, and ahead of you, then you’re not isolating yourself and you’ll have enough people around you to give you what you need.”"

"“I saw a platform that I felt I could lead, and I went with everything that I had… I had been on this journey to stop being afraid of the things I was innately attracted to.”"

"Because of the success of these training programs,I now serve as a leadership consultant to UN women working currently with South Sudan office to design leadership curricula to economically empower women and raise them as leaders in peace Building."

"I believe that if we unlock the leadership potential of African women and girls,we can change them into compassionate change makers who will improve not only their circumstances but the circumstances of others."

"“I’m not sure that any continent feels ready for women that are fearless. I’m not sure that we need people to be ready. I think that you show up. The more fearless women that emerge, the more we normalize ourselves.”"

"“First, you must never let laughter stop you… People will always have opinions of what you do and who you are, but you can’t let their opinions and their laughter stop you… Second, don’t let people steal your voice. Your voice is your power.”"

"“You cannot be your best self by yourself. None of us was created to be an island. You need those circles: who’s behind you, who’s with you, who’s ahead of you. You need to seek out mentors, coaches, and counsellors, and don’t be afraid to invest in yourself.”"

"„Paradox: We harm children in the long run by wanting to help them (out of love or short-term convenience).“"

"„Who knows, maybe it's totally awesome after death. We just don't know, so we are afraid, and so we often try to hold on here 'tooth and nail'.“"

"„A healthy body, with the help of oxytocin and other hormones, creates very intense feelings towards the offspring. Long-term feelings, strong enough to have us feel an endless need to protect the child throughout life, even at the cost of our own. Thanks to these feelings, however, we protect them not only from the environment and its own indiscretions, but often also from ourselves, and therefore from actions stemming from our emotions.“"

"„Paradox: When our neocortex, the intellectual part of the brain, is merely a servant in the hands of the animal part of the brain.“"

"„We are an animal that has acquired the ability to perceive that it is an animal.“"

"„Paradox: We don’t have strong enough willpower to have free will.“"

"„Want to be a good parent? Be a good person!“"

"„And if you think you've messed up everything you possibly could have? If you believe in reincarnation, you can at least console yourself with the idea that, in the next life, you will try again and do it better. That is, if you're 'lucky' enough to come back here as a human and not as, say, a Thanksgiving turkey.“"

"„Life begins > I lie down > I can't walk > I can't control excretion > can’t control excretion > can't walk > I lie down > life ends“"

"„Give an animal better intelligence and you get man.“"

"„So, life is often very difficult, and we can mainly be content with how we managed to live that difficult life.“"

"„Paradox: While we want to control the other person's every move, or even every thought, we ourselves often desire freedom and liberty.“"

"„Let's live in a way so that we don't have to be afraid to die!“"

"„So we often use the intellectual part of the brain to fulfil the wishes of the animal part.“"

"„The expectation that someone else will, in the long run, make us happy is the perfect way to end up unhappy.“"

"„We are often but slaves to the feelings our own body subjects us to.“"

"„The male body, for example, is specific in terms of its participation in the reproductive process because of its relative simplicity, but above all its speed. After all, the phrase 'he lasted three whole minutes' didn’t just come about by accident.“"

"„Being sexually attracted to someone does not guarantee that they will be a suitable life partner.“"

"„If you want to take proper care of others, you must first take proper care of yourself.“"

"„Paradox: These feelings of jealousy are triggered by the body trying to protect us from potentially losing our partner. However, the way excessive jealousy manifests itself ends up driving our partner away.“"

"" I would take the childhood that I got every single time"."

""It wasn't the easiest childhood, but it prepared me for real life"."

""If you are not meant to be doing a job, it is better that you find out sooner than later so that you can make the appropriate changes"."

""Find something that you can offer that few people can also offer"."

""I haven’t always excelled to be honest and really want young people in Nigeria to understand that success is not a straight line"."

"When a woman evolves, she gives permission to her community to do the same."

"I don't believe it. During his electoral campaign, Nicolas Sarkozy did not stop calling on people to express themselves freely."

"The statement of a certain number of clichés borrowed from colonial ethnology, which contribute to a denial of the existence of an African history."

"Enormously. They come from both ordinary citizens and African and French intellectuals."

"I contacted institutions such as the Association of African Historians or the Council for the Development of Social Science Research (Codesria)."

"I asked all African historians, each in their own specialty, to write an article on one of the themes mentioned by President Sarkozy.."

"The hen knows the sun has risen and yet lets the rooster sing"

"When ten million Russians come over the border, we won't even have enough ammunition to repel them."

"Send the unemployed to concentration camps. Racial mixing is a very bad thing. Suspend the right to strike."

"I've been to the theaters and prisons, I've seen gays and lesbians... it's horrible. Doing others in the ass, then a diarrhea-soaked dick comes out. It's disgusting."