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.

A tree with strong roots laughs at storms.

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.

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.

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

Having curiosity is the only way to learn.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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?

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

Humans. Always performing.

Beauty does not need a reason,” Okwu responded

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.

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

Suicide is death on purpose!

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.

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

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.

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

Suffering is against the Way. Let us end you.

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?

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.