...when we are comfortable and inattentive, we run the risk of committing grave injustices absentmindedly.
Interpretation
This quote warns that when we become complacent and distracted, we may unknowingly cause serious harm or injustice.
Chinua Achebe highlights the dangers of becoming too comfortable in our lives, suggesting that inattentiveness and complacency can lead to significant mistakes, particularly in the realm of justice. By pointing out the risk of committing 'grave injustices' while we are distracted, Achebe calls for mindfulness and active engagement in our moral responsibilities, emphasizing the importance of being aware of our surroundings and the impact of our actions.
In practice
During a speech about social responsibility, one might quote Achebe to emphasize the importance of staying engaged in societal issues.
In fact, I thought that Christianity was very a good and a very valuable thing for us. But after a while, I began to feel that the story that I was told about this religion wasn't perhaps completely whole, that something was left out.
Writers don't give prescriptions. They give headaches!
Mr. Brown had thought of nothing but numbers. He should have known that the kingdom of God did not depend on large crowds. Our Lord Himself stressed the importance of fewness. Narrow is the way and few the number. To fill the Lord's holy temple with an idolatrous crowd clamoring for signs was a folly of everlasting consequence. Our Lord used the whip only once in His life - to drive the crowd away from His church.
It is the storyteller who makes us what we are, who creates history. The storyteller creates the memory that the survivors must have - otherwise their surviving would have no meaning.
Writing has always been a serious business for me. I felt it was a moral obligation. A major concern of the time was the absence of the African voice. Being part of that dialogue meant not only sitting at the table but effectively telling the African story from an African perspective - in full earshot of the world.
An angry man is always a stupid man.
Sometimes we are too polite with our suffering and allow it to dominate our life.
Thus we may know that there are five essentials for victory: He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight. He will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces. He will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks. He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared. He will win who has military capacity and is not interfered with by the sovereign.
I have learned now that while those who speak about one's miseries usually hurt, those who keep silence hurt more.
Attitude lies somewhere between emotion and logic. It's that curious mix of optimism and determination that enables you to maintain a positive outlook and to continue plodding in the face of the most adverse circumstances.
I'm seventeen and I'm crazy. My uncle says the two always go together. When people ask your age, he said, always say seventeen and insane.
A realized one sends out waves of spiritual influence in his aura, which draw many people towards him. Yet he may sit in a cave and maintain complete silence.
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