That we are surrounded by deep mysteries is known to all but the incurably ignorant.
Interpretation
Life is filled with mysteries that everyone acknowledges, except for those who refuse to see them.
Chinua Achebe's quote emphasizes the idea that life is riddled with profound mysteries and complexities, a truth that is universally acknowledged. However, it also highlights the existence of individuals who are oblivious to these deeper aspects of existence, suggesting a need for awareness and open-mindedness in the face of life's enigmas.
In practice
During a lecture on philosophy, one could use this quote to illustrate the importance of seeking understanding.
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.
Every luxury must be paid for, and everything is a luxury, starting with being in this world.
We always live in an uncertain world. What is certain is that the United States will go forward over time.
I never yet heard man or woman much abused that I was not inclined to think the better of them, and to transfer the suspicion or dislike to the one who found pleasure in pointing out the defects of another.
I honestly do not know if civil disobedience has any effect on the government. I can promise you it has a great effect on the person who chooses to do it.
If it be a sin to covet honor, I am the most offending soul.
Man is not a machine that can be remodelled for quite other purposes as occasion demands, in the hope that it will go on functioning as regularly as before but in a quite different way. He carries his whole history with him; in his very structure is written the history of mankind.
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