Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Quotes

When I lived in England my perception of what people thought of me was largely formed by the media.

I'd be so fascinated to talk to a psychologist or sociologist about the deep psychological impact of seeing oneself represented. I don't think we've really touched the surface of what it does to the psyche of a people if the only image of you out there is negative. Or if it's never out there.

You know, as far as public perception goes, if you get seen with some people one time, everyone thinks you're in that group.

When I walk out into the street or go to the toilet, I don't think of myself as being black. Of course, other people think of me as black when I walk into a pub. Obviously being black is a part of me.

As H.L. Mencken once said, 'nobody ever when broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people.' Our show [All in the Family] countered that witticism. I think he was wrong.

Reputation matters so much only because people so seldom think for themselves.

I grew up around gay people my entire life, basically, that’s possibly why I’m quite camp, and some people think I’m gay when I meet them, which I think is awesome. It’s always good to keep them guessing.

The media is something that affects a lot of people, so you're constantly trying to strike a balance between respecting something and not caring about it.

If it true that perception is reality, then what is shown on TV is that part of the collective consciousness known as Public Knowledge, that is, the fragment of reality which the mass of people acknowledge to be true.

Culturally, it's very hard to change people's attitudes about public space.

When you grow up in that (multi-ethnic) environment, you see the world differently. Being a mixed-race child, I didn't always see colour in people, I really didn't. It was other people that made me see the colour all the time.

The more I was treated as a woman, the more woman I became. A adapted willy-nilly. If I was assumed to be incompetent at reversing cars, or opening bottles, oddly incompetent I found myself becoming. If a case was thought too heavy for me, inexplicably I found it so myself.

People tend to become what the most important people in their lives think they will become.

I'm not a politician. I'm not a policy wonk. I was a political reporter, but that's not really what turns me on. What turns me on is how people perceive the issue and how people see people like me.

Being a human being is lost. For 120 shows, the one that goes bad is the one that people will talk about.

The American people are not as casualty-sensitive as the weenies in the American press are.

We set ourselves up for it with the reality show. You've seen me and Nick go at each other's throats on TV. They've got all these people giving their opinions on our marriage and how we handle it when they are watching an edited TV show.

You have got to convince people, the Drive-By Media, the mainstream media, is never going to support us, and if you continue to define political success as the media supporting us and not supporting a Democrat, you're never gonna be happy, because that's never going to happen. And if that remains your measure of success, then you're gonna get fooled each and every time.

Either a good or a bad reputation outruns and gets before people wherever they go.

Polls are the corporate media's standardized tests to determine how well we have learned what it has taught us.

On the BSkyB bid, Rupert Murdoch is now in town in London seeking to sort things out. I would simply say to him, look how people feel about this. Look how the country has reacted with revulsion to the revelations. So do the decent and sensible thing and reconsider, think again, about your bid for BSkyB.

One of the things I had to really wrap my head around is I have no control over what people call me: advocate, activist, gay, Filipino, undocumented person, gay person with an Asian face and Latino name.

I don't think Mike Tyson's a bad guy. I think the people, the media, makes him out to be a bad guy.

When you do a computerized poll, where people are comfortable, Donald Trump vote goes up very dramatically. And I think people don't realize the effort by the elite media, the totally dishonest effort to submerge him, has had an effect.

Perception is reality. If you are perceived to be something, you might as well be it because that's the truth in people's minds.