How was it possible to miss something you no longer wanted?

—Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in Americanah

More about this quote

About Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie ( ; born 15 September 1977) is a Nigerian writer, novelist, poet, essayist, and playwright of postcolonial feminist literature. Her debut novel, Purple Hibiscus (2003), was centered on the Nigerian Civil War and has been translated into many languages. After Purple Hibiscus were the novels Half of...

More quotations from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

I often make the mistake of thinking that something that is obvious to me is just as obvious to everyone else.

—Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in We Should All Be Feminists

More about this quote

Permalink for this quote

We spend too much time teaching girls to worry about what boys think of them. But the reverse is not the case. We don't teach boys to care about being likable. We spend too much time telling girls that they cannot be angry or aggressive or tough, which is bad enough, but then we turn around and either praise or excuse men for the same reasons.

—Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in We Should All Be Feminists

More about this quote

Permalink for this quote

A woman at a certain age who is unmarried, our society teaches her to see it as a deep personal failure. And a man, after a certain age isn't married, we just think he hasn't come around to making his pick.