Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Quotes

People have said, 'Oh, but you don't look like you're from Manchester.' And I always want to ask, 'What the hell does someone from Manchester look like?'

I don't think that because I am Hispanic I should therefore do Hispanic work.

I haven't met everyone from all different cultures, but I do know Aussies are very tough.

I find being Irish quite a wearing thing. It takes so much work because it is a social construction. People think you are going to be this, this, and this.

Everyone in America thinks I'm American - and everyone in England seems to think I'm American.

I'd much rather people knew me as a good tennis player than as an aboriginal who happens to play good tennis. Of course I'm proud of my race, but I don't want to be thinking about it all the time.

I don't want to be the next face of America.

I've always had far too much emotion to be Scottish.

With cab drivers, I always say I'm from Brazil. I don't say I'm from Israel. It's happened more than once that someone is blaming me for the government's policy. And I say, 'Listen, I live here. I'm a musician. I don't call the shots.'

My name's Mohamed, a lot of people know I'm Muslim, but I'm here because of my football talents, not because I'm Muslim.

It's hard when you look a certain way. I look All-American, sweet, girl-next-door, so naturally those are the parts that are going to land on my doorstep.

I'd imagine if there were more Scottish people making Scottish movies about Scotland, it would not only be educational, but it would instill a sense of pride.

I was a Christian in Creed, but nobody ever asked me.

Americans think African writers will write about the exotic, about wildlife, poverty, maybe AIDS. They come to Africa and African books with certain expectations.

The fact that television and tourism have made the whole world accessible has created the illusion that we enjoy intimate knowledge of other places, when we barely scratch their surface. For the vast majority, the knowledge of Thailand or Sri Lanka acquired through tourism consists of little more than the whereabouts of the beach.

Whenever I play something, everybody just thinks that's who I am.

I've never been one to bow down to people who try to question my identity because I don't fit their mould of what an Aboriginal Australian is supposed to be or look like.

I've often gone to start a film only to find the producers surprised to discover that I'm American.

'English Rose' - what does that actually mean? That I am pale? That I am English, maybe? They are going to say that about any actress from this country!

I have no idea how I'm perceived in America because I don't live the reality of America.

It's so funny because people always think of me as being a little bit country or assume that I am from the South - I don't know why!

When you first leave Uganda for Europe you think, ‘At last, I'm free to do what I want’. But when you arrive there, you become an African for the first time, in a sense. Because you are responsible for Somalia! They call you up and say, ‘What do you think about Somalia?’ And you can't say, ‘I'm Ugandan, I have nothing to say about Somalia’. You have this big, huge chunk of experience to defend --and you will defend it, because nobody else is defending it. You become some sort of an ambassador and for the first time you become conscious of what Africa means.

Africanity is foisted upon the migrants the moment they arrive in the West. On the continent, most people in the rural areas live under ethnic categories like Kikuyu, Ibo, Hausa and Acholi. Some educated, middle-class and/or urban dwellers may see themselves as members of a nation like South Africa, Kenya or Tanzania. In some countries like South Africa, which has recently emerged from the crucible of apartheid, national consciousness is still strong. For most, however, "national" consciousness emerges only occasionally during Independence Day celebrations, international soccer matches or at election time. "African" consciousness, however, is a rarity

Like many foreign students when they go abroad, I was instantly thrust into a position of having to explain and defend my country. That is a very common predicament.

I didn't choose to come to the United States, but being raised here has shaped exactly who I am today, and I can't imagine that being taken away from me.