Our society teaches a woman at a certain age who is unmarried to see it as a deep personal failure. While a man at a certain age who is unmarried has not quite come around to making his pick.

Never ever accept 'Because You Are A Woman' as a reason for doing or not doing anything.

The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story.

We teach girls shame; close your legs, cover yourself, we make them feel as though by being born female they're already guilty of something.

To choose to write is to reject silence.

Of course I am not worried about intimidating men. The type of man who will be intimidated by me is exactly the type of man I have no interest in.

If you start thinking about being likable you are not going to tell your story honestly.

There are people who dislike you because you do not dislike yourself.

Privilege blinds, because it's in its nature to blind. Don't let it blind you too often. Sometimes you will need to push it aside in order to see clearly.

Culture does not make people. People make culture.

You must never behave as if your life belongs to a man. Do you hear me?' Aunty Ifeka said. 'Your life belongs to you and you alone.

Whatever her dream was, it rested somewhere in the most vague of directions.

When a photo of a person looks deep into your spirit and tells you thousand stories….. Stories from your past even before you existed, then the photo is way above any description.

I gotta go but... I miss you. That's all.""I miss you too", I say hugging my body tightly with the sleeves of his shirt.This... Is falling.

I do adore food. If I have any vice it's eating. If I was told I could only eat one food for the rest of my life, I could put up with sausage and mash forever.

I have an instinct for finding the odd location, the dismissed face, the eerie atmosphere, the oppressed mood.

Life is short and progress is slow

For some time I lived in fear of receiving a letter signed 'S. Gollum'. That would have been more difficult to deal with.

If you're not creating waves, then you're not pushing enough.

You have to be careful when you're getting feedback because people will give you conflicting feedback all the time, but ultimately you end up following your own inner guide.

I couldn't get any of the ingenue roles when younger because at 5 feet 9 inches with a deep voice I was always too... genue. My career has completely happened since I was 29.