First Quote Added
April 10, 2026
Latest Quote Added
"It's a foolish elder who becomes a creditor, since he must wait until the other world, or outlive his debtors."
"If the young sapling bends, the old twig if it resists the wind, can only break."
"When a squirrel seeks sanctuary up the iroko tree the hunter's chase is ended."
"Age has shrunk the tortoise and the shell is full of air pockets."
"When the dog hides a bone does he not throw up sand?"
"The ostrich also sports plumes but I've yet to see that wise bird leave the ground."
"We lift the King's umbrella higher than men but it never pushes the sun in the face."
"Only a foolish child lets a father prostrate to him."
"It is a mindless clown who dispenses thanks as a fowl scatters meal not caring where it falls."
"It was our fathers who said, not I - a crown is a burden when the king visits his favourite's chambers. When the king's wrapper falls off in audience, wise men know he wants to be left alone."
"The nude shanks of a king is not a sight for children - it will blind them."
"A shilling's vegetable must appease a halfpenny spice."
"A King does not become a menial just because he puts down his crown to eat."
"The descendants of our great forebears...let them symbolize all that is noble in our nation.""
"The guests we were sent are slaves and lackeys. They have only come to undermine our strength. To preach to us how ignoble we are."
"When your businessmen ruin the lesser ones, do you go crying to them?""
"Doesn't she look like the type that would drive men to madness and self-destruction?"
"Recognition is the curse I carry with me."
""I have a particular aversion to being mauled by women"
"Why don't you confess it? You are the type who would rather die in your bed."
"Adenebi becomes defensive and says, "Have you no feeling for those who died?""
"Aroni has taken control. That is when the guilty become afraid."
"These rites of the dead. I do not know why you take them on,""
"This whole family business sickens me. Let everybody lead their own lives,""
"The world is big, but the dead are bigger"
"When you see a man hurrying, he has got a load on his back. Do you think I live emptily that I will take another's cause for pay or mercy?"
"Will you take my case?"
"I see we’ve got another of the good old days. Obaneji [on the contrary]."
"The accumulated heritage—that is what we are celebrating. Mali. Chaka. Songhai. Glory. Empires."
"(Soyinka, 64)"
"Lakunle, last seen, having freed himself of Sadiku, clearing a space for the young girl."
"(Lakunle, 61)"
"Moreover, I will admit, / It solves the problem of her bride-price too. / A man must live or fall by his true / Principles. That, I had sworn, / Never to pay."
"(Baroka, 52)"
"I do not hate progress, only its nature / Which makes all roofs and faces look the same."
"(Sidi, 47)"
"To husband his wives surely ought to be / A man's first duties—at all times."
"(Lakunle, 26)"
"No! I do not envy him! / Just one woman for me!"
"(Sidi, 23)"
"Sadiku, I am young and brimming; he is spent. / I am the twinkle of a jewel / But he is the hind-quarters of a lion!"
"(Lakunle, 20)"
"My Ruth, my Rachel, Esther, Bathsheba / Thou sum of fabled perfections / From Genesis to Revelations"
"(Lakunle, 9)"
"Bush-girl you are, bush girl you'll always be; / Uncivilized and primitive—bush-girl!"
"(Lakunle, 5)"
"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..."
"(Lakunle, 2)"
"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!"
"The greedy dog! Insatiate camel of a foolish, doting race."