Binti Nnedi Okorafor Quotes

We prefer to explore the universe by traveling inward, as opposed to outward.

However, just because something isn’t surprising doesn’t mean it’s easy to deal with.

They say that when faced with a fight you cannot win, you can never predict what you will do next. But I'd always known I'd fight until I was killed.

My father didn’t believe in war. He said war was evil, but if it came he would revel in it like sand in a storm.

Change was constant. Change was my destiny. Growth.

I felt the pain and the glory of growth, was straining and shuddering with it.

No matter what choice I made, I was never going to have a normal life, really. I looked around and immediately knew what to do next.

A tree with strong roots laughs at storms.

I believed I could only be great if I were curious enough to seek greatness.

The way people on Oomza Uni were so diverse and everyone handled that as if it were normal continued to surprise me. It was so unlike Earth, where wars were fought over and because of differences and most couldn't relate to anyone unless they were similar.

But deep down inside me, I wanted . . . I needed it. I couldn’t help but act on it. The urge was so strong that it was mathematical.

There was always so much I didn’t know, but not knowing was part of it all.

When you face your deepest fears, when you are ready,” she’d said. “Don’t turn away. Stand tall, endure, face them. If you get through it, they will never harm you again.

When elephants fight, the grass suffers.

It grows because it's alive.

Even back then I had changed things, and I didn’t even know it. When I should have reveled in this gift, instead, I’d seen myself as broken. But couldn’t you be broken and still bring change?

What’s the matter?” she asked, worried. “I’m afraid of what you’ll find.” “We’ll definitely find some interesting things, but nothing you can’t deal with, Binti. You already are what you are and you’re fine.

He was always calling them evil, though he’d never traveled to a Khoush country or known a Khoush. His anger was rightful, but all that he said was from what he didn’t truly know.

Beauty does not need a reason,” Okwu responded

I whimpered, biting my lip. "I'm here, I'm here, I'm here," i whispered. Because I was and there was no way out.

I frowned. They sounded like the same thing to me, gain and purpose.

Dedicated to the little blue jellyfish I saw swimming the Khalid Lagoon that sunny day in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

I am Binti Ekeopara Zuzu Dambu Kaipka of Namib,” I whispered.

Those women talked about me, the men probably did too. But none of them knew what I had, where I was going, who I was. Let them gossip and judge. Thankfully, they knew not to touch my hair again. I don’t like war either.

I wanted to ask, 'Why did you let this happen?' but that was blasphemy. You never ask why. It was not a question for you to ask.

Humans. Always performing.

His anger was rightful, but all that he said was from what he didn’t truly know.

Suicide is death on purpose!

If there was one thing I had learned in all my strange journeys it was that what would be would be and sometimes you wait to see.

Having curiosity is the only way to learn.

I swiped otjize from my forehead with my index finger and knelt down. Then I touched the finger to the sand, grounding the sweet smelling red clay into it. "Thank you," I whispered.

I’m not meant to stay here. You know it. You’ve always known it. I was always going out into the desert. You know? Because it’s huge, it’s vast. When I look back, the desert and space, they feel similar.

When I should have reveled in this gift, instead, I’d seen myself as broken. But couldn’t you be broken and still bring change?

Tribal”: that’s what they called humans from ethnic groups too remote and “uncivilized” to regularly send students to attend Oomza Uni. Over

Feet away, Professor Dema stood, carrying a large gunlike weapon with both her hands and a snarl on her lips. This was not the way final exams were supposed to go.

How different my life would have been if my parents had just let me dance.

It was cool in the terminal, but I felt the heat of social pressure.

Suffering is against the Way. Let us end you.

I’d seen myself as broken. But couldn’t you be broken and still bring change?

The enemy of my enemy is my friend ... even if it's a monster.

Then I slid a slice of white milky dessert on my tray. I did not know its name, but it was easily the most wonderful thing I’d ever tasted. Each bite would fuel my mental well-being.

Then there was Heru. I had never spoken to him, but we smiled across the table at each other during mealtimes. He was from one of those cities so far from mine that they seemed like a figment of my imagination, where there was snow and where men rode those enormous gray birds and the women could speak with those birds without moving their mouths.

My tribe is obsessed with innovation and technology, but it is small, private, and, as I said, we don’t like to leave Earth. We prefer to explore the universe by traveling inward, as opposed to outward. No Himba has ever gone to Oomza Uni. So me being the only one on the ship was not that surprising. However, just because something isn’t surprising doesn’t mean it’s easy to deal with.

I saw the White House while it was still worth seeing

otjize

They say that when faced with a fight you cannot win, you can never predict what you will do next.

When you do math fractals long enough, you kick yourself into treeing just enough to get lost in the shallows of the mathematical sea.

Why don’t I ever want to do what I’m supposed to do?

childbirth was only one of thousands of things the body could do without the spirit.

Soy hija del desierto; nada interior parece exterior para mí.

I couldn’t see the end of the corridor, so I stared at the entrance. The ship was a magnificent piece of living technology. Third Fish was a Miri 12, a type of ship closely related to a shrimp. Miri 12s were stable calm creatures with natural exoskeletons that could withstand the harshness of space. They were genetically enhanced to grow three breathing chambers within their bodies. Scientists planted rapidly growing plants within these three enormous rooms that not only produced oxygen from the CO2 directed in from other parts of the ship, but also absorbed benzene, formaldehyde, and trichloroethylene. This was some of the most amazing technology I’d ever read about. Once settled on the ship, I was determined to convince someone to let me see one of these amazing rooms. But at the moment, I wasn’t thinking about the technology of the ship. I was on the threshold now, between home and my future.

My father said that my curiosity was the last obstacle I had to overcome to be a true master harmonizer. If there was one thing my father and I disagreed on, it was that; I believed I could only be great if I were curious enough to seek greatness.

Nothing is wrong with me? I thought. Not unclean? It’s just . . . a new part of me I need to learn to control? I’d come all this way to go on my pilgrimage because I’d thought my body was trying to tell me something was wrong with it. I hadn’t wanted to admit it to myself, but I’d thought I’d broken myself because of the choices I’d made, because of my actions, because I’d left my home to go to Oomza Uni. Because of guilt. The relief I felt was so all encompassing that I wanted to lie down on the rug and just sleep. Ariya

Yes. But … no. Will you please tell me about Binti? My mother told me much. You tell me things too. And so it was an hour before Mwinyi went back to the escape of sleep, as he told New Fish all he knew about Binti. He even told New Fish how much he loved her and finished by surprising himself.

Whenever my father allowed me to buy a new book, I spent hours in my room with my eyes closed as I listened to it on my astrolabe. In many of those stories, a curious person would find a secret or magical object that would change her or his life. I’d always wanted that to happen to me. And now I was sure this was it.

You Himba are so inward-looking,” she said. “Cocooned around that pink lake, growing your technology from knowledge harvested from deep within your genius, you girls and women dig up your red clay and hide beneath it. You’re an interesting people who have been on those lands for generations. But you’re a young people. The Enyi Zinariya are old old Africans. “And contrary to what you all believe, we have technology that puts yours to shame and we’ve had it for centuries

Olo, Remi, Kwuga, Nur, Anajama, Rhoden. Only Olo and Remi were in my group. Everyone else I met in the dining area or the learning room where various lectures were held by professors onboard the ship. They were all girls who grew up in sprawling houses, who’d never walked through the desert, who’d never stepped on a snake in the dry grass. They were girls who could not stand the rays of Earth’s sun unless it was shining through a tinted window. Yet they were girls who knew what I meant when I spoke of “treeing.” We sat in my room (because, having so few travel items, mine was the emptiest) and challenged each other to look out at the stars and imagine the most complex equation and then split it in half and then in half again and again. When you do math fractals long enough, you kick yourself into treeing just enough to get lost in the shallows of the mathematical sea. None of us would have made it into the university if we couldn’t tree, but it’s not easy. We were the best and we pushed each other to get closer to “God.

How had I not been able to guess this? Not that it was due to alien technology, but that they were working with a platform. They were manipulating a virtual platform like the ones astrolabes could project! One that only the Enyi Zinariya could see and access. I felt a sting of shame as I realized why I hadn’t understood something so obvious. My own prejudice. I had been raised to view the Desert People, the Enyi Zinariya, as a primitive, savage people plagued by a genetic neurological disorder. So that’s what I saw.

I saw how you looked at us,” he said. “Just like every Himba I have ever encountered, like we’re savages. You call us the ‘Desert People,’ mysterious uncivilized dark people of the sand.” I wanted to deny my prejudice, but he was right. “Despite the fact that you’re darker like us, have the crown like us, have our blood,” he said. “I wonder how surprised you were when you saw that we could speak your language as well as our three languages. ‘Desert People.’ Do you even know the actual name of our tribe?” I shook my head, slowly. “We’re the Enyi Zinariya,” he said. “No, I won’t translate that for you.

Amongst the Himba, you "were what you knew you were once you knew what you were and that was that", to quote my village's chief Kapika.

The people on the ship weren’t Himba, but I soon understood that they were still my people.

Who’d have thought that a place harboring human beings could carry such honor and foresight.

Sometimes, the obvious is too obvious,

—(…) ¿Alguno recuerda siquiera por qué empezó la guerra? ¿Las medusas intentaron drenar los lagos? ¿Los khoush masacraron a una tribu pacífica de medusas exploradoras? ¿Secuestraron a la hija del líder khoush? Si os preguntara uno por uno, enumeraríais distintas historias de hace tanto tiempo que los nietos de los nietos de los posibles testigos llevan años muertos.

—¿No has aprendido nada de todo esto? —se quejó Mwinyi—. ¿Qué pensabas que era yo hace unos días? ¿Qué pensabas de todos los enyi zinariya? —Como no respondí, lo hizo él—: Creías que éramos salvajes. Te criaron para que lo creyeras, aunque tu propio padre sea uno de nosotros. Y sabes por qué. Estoy aquí, contándote cómo descubrí que era armonizador, y estás tan enredada entre tus mentiras que prefieres quedarte pensando si soy un espíritu antes que cuestionarte lo que te han enseñado.

Cuando los elefantes pelean, la hierba sufre.

Mwinyi abrió los ojos y respiró hondo. Le encantaba poder «conectar con la tierra», lo adoraba con toda su alma. El universo era un canto conectado de historias, y él podía escuchar esa canción allá donde fuera. —No volveré a llevar zapatos nunca —susurró para sí mismo.

The spirits and ghosts of the dead don’t stay where they’re freed.

The three days passed, as time always does when you are alive, whether happy or tortured.

I will wash this off soon,” it said. “It’s not good to feel this pleased with life.

Binti Ekeopara Zuzu Dambu Kaipka of Osemba

I’d come all this way to go on my pilgrimage because I’d thought my body was trying to tell me something was wrong with it.

Do you want to do this?” she asked. “Do I need to?” “Hmm. You’re still ashamed of what you are.

No fear, Master Harmonizer, you belong in space!

When I was five, I had asked my mother what it was like to give birth. She smiled and said that giving birth was the act of stepping back and letting your body take over. That childbirth was only one of thousands of things the body could do without the spirit.

They were all girls who grew up in sprawling houses, who'd never walked through the desert, who'd never stepped on a snake in the dry grass. They were girls who could not stand the rays of the Earth's sun unless it was shining through a tinted window.

It grows because it is alive.

Just like the strange sensation of my okuoko when I first felt them, this was . . . this was beautiful. I felt the pain and glory of growth, was straining and shuddering with it.

Nothing was asked of Okwu and Okwu was pleased, preferring to menacingly loom in the background behind me. Okwu was happiest around human beings when it was menacingly looming.

I awoke to the universe.

I am not a follower, but there are times when all you can do is follow.

just because something isn’t surprising doesn’t mean it’s easy to deal with.

Government security guards were only educated up to age ten, yet because of their jobs, they were used to ordering people around.

We will see.

The first to answer was my mother.

Heru’s chest burst

See? We never needed you.