“If more Africans had eaten missionaries, the continent would be in better shape.”

“You are the sum total of everything you've seen, heard, eaten, smelled, been told, forgot- it's all right there.”

“Had I known that the heart breaks slowly, dismantling itself into unrecognizable plots of misery... had I known yet I would have loved you, your brash and insolent beauty, your heavy comedic face and knowledge of sweet delights, but from a distance I would have left you whole and wholly for the delectation of those who wanted more and cared less.”

“I don't trust people who don't love themselves and tell me, 'I love you.' ... There is an African saying which is: Be careful when a naked person offers you a shirt.”

“Segregation shaped me; education liberated me.”

“Water isn't shaped like a river or ocean; it mists invisibly against metal and glass”

“He was a simple man who had no inferiority complex about his lack of education, and even more amazing no superiority complex because he had succeeded despite that lack.”