Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's most quoted lines (with their source)
The top 3 according to 298 votes from people: The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. · Stories can break the dignity of a people. But stories can also repair that broken dignity. · I think you travel to search and you come back home to find yourself there.. (Updated Feb 25, 2022.)
The danger of a single story, girls taught to shrink themselves and "Culture does not make people. People make culture": Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's most quoted lines, from her TED talks, Americanah and her interviews, each with its source.
Top 12
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1
The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete.
TED talk "The Danger of a Single Story" (2009).
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2
Stories can break the dignity of a people. But stories can also repair that broken dignity.
TED talk "The Danger of a Single Story" (2009).
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3
I think you travel to search and you come back home to find yourself there.
Americanah (2013).
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4
We teach girls to shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller.
TEDxEuston talk "We Should All Be Feminists" (2012).
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5
The problem with gender is that it prescribes how we should be rather than recognising how we are.
TEDxEuston talk "We Should All Be Feminists" (2012).
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6
I was a happy African feminist who does not hate men and who likes lip gloss and who wears high heels for herself but not for men.
TEDxEuston talk "We Should All Be Feminists" (2012).
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7
Because we write fiction we mine our souls. Of course you put yourself into your fiction, your fiction is you.
Interview, The Guardian (28 April 2018).
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8
Why did people ask "What is it about?" as if a novel had to be about only one thing.
Americanah (2013).
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9
Culture does not make people. People make culture.
TEDxEuston talk "We Should All Be Feminists" (2012).
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10
Race doesn't really exist for you because it has never been a barrier.
Americanah (2013).
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11
He made her like herself.
Americanah (2013).
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12
I often make the mistake of thinking that something that is obvious to me is just as obvious to everyone else.
We Should All Be Feminists (2014).
How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.
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Comments (2)
Beyoncé sampling the TEDx talk on Flawless is how half my friends found out about her, which is funny but also great.
The single story talk should be mandatory in every school. I've shown it to three different classes.