Home > Work > Things Fall Apart (The African Trilogy, #1)
41 " For whom is it well, for whom is it well?There is no one for whom it is well. "
― Chinua Achebe , Things Fall Apart (The African Trilogy, #1)
42 " The Commissioner went away, taking three or four of the soldiers with him. In the many years in which he had toiled to bring civilization to different parts of Africa he had learned a number of things. One of them was that a District Commissioner must never attend to such undignified details s cutting a hanged man from a tree. Such attention would give the natives a poor opinion of him. In the book which he planned to write he would stress that point. As he walked back to the court he thought about that book. Every day brought him some new material. The story of the man who had killed a messenger and hanged himself would make interesting reading. One could almost write a whole chapter ob him. Perhaps not a whole chapter but a reasonable paragraph, at any rate. There was so much else to include, and one must be firm in cutting details. He had already chosen the title of the book, after much thought: The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger. "
43 " To show affection was a sign of weakness; the only thing worth demonstrating was strength. "
44 " ما هو خير عند شعب هو شر مقيت عند شعوب أخرى "
45 " Fortunately, among these people a man was judged according to his worth and not according to the worth of his father. "
46 " It’s true that a child belongs to its father. But when a father beats his child, it seeks sympathy in its mother’s hut. A man belongs to his fatherland when things are good and life is sweet. But when there is sorrow and bitterness he finds refuge in his motherland. Your mother is there to protect you. She is buried there. And that is why we say that mother is supreme. "
47 " إن أشعة الشّمس تطال هامات الواقفين قبل أن تشرق على الراكعين من تحتهم "
48 " ان الشمس ستشرق على أولئك الذين يقفون قبل أن تشرق على أولئك الذين يركعون تحت أقدامهم "
49 " ثم تنحنح " حقًا ينتمي الطفل إلى أبيه. لكنه عندما يضرب الأب ابنه, يلتمس العطف في كوخ أمه. ينتمي الرجل إلى وطن أبيه في السراء وعندما تكون الحياة حلوة المذاق. أما في الضراء و في حالة الحزن والمرارة فإنه يجد المأوى في وطن أمه. فأمك وجدت لتحميك. وهذا هو السبب في قولنا " الأم فوق الجميع". فهل من الصواب, يا أكونكو, أن تأتي إلى أمك بوجه حزين وأن ترفض السلوى؟ احترس وإلا أغضبت الموتى. "
50 " And now the rains had really come, so heavy and persistent that even the village rain-maker no longer claimed to be able to intervene. He could not stop the rain now, just as he would not attempt to start it in the heart of the dry season, without serious danger to his own health. The personal dynamism required to counter the forces of these extremes of weather would be far too great for the human frame. "
51 " وكما قال الشيوخ: إذا غسل الطفل يديه يستطيع الأكل مع الملوك "
52 " عندما يسطع القمر يجوع الكسيح إلى المشي "
53 " لمن تكون الحياة حلوة، لمن تكون الحياة حلوة؟ليس هناك أحد تكون الحياة له حلوةوليس لدي أكثر من هذا لأقوله لك "
54 " انصت إلّي. إنك لست غريبًا في أوموفيا وتعلم أن آباءنا قد قرروا أنه قبل أن نزرع أي محصول في الأرض علينا أن نكرس أسبوعًا لا يتفوّه فيه الشخص بكلمة نابية لجاره. إننا نعيش في سلام مع بني جلدتنا لنكرم آلهة الأرض العظيمة التي لا تنمو محاصيلنا دون بركتها. لقد أتيت شرًا عظيمًا "
55 " و بينما وقفت تحملق في الظلمة المستديرة التي ابتلعتهما, تساقطت الدموع بغزارة من عينيها, وأقسمت في داخلها أنها إذا سمعت ازنما تصرخ فستندفع إلى داخل الكهف لتدافع عنها ضد جميع آلهة العالم. لا بل تموت معها. "
56 " If ever a man deserved his success, that man was Okonkwo. At an early age he had achieved fame as the greatest wrestler in all the land. That was not luck. At the most one could say that his chi or personal god was good. But the Ibo people have a proverb that when a man say yes his chi says yes also. Okonkwo said yes very strongly; so his chi agreed. And not only his chi but his clan too, because it judged a man by the work of his hands. "
57 " عندما يضئ القمر يشعر الكسيح برغبة قوية إلى المشي "
58 " الرجل الذي يُبدي احتراماً للعظماء إنما يمهد الطريق لعظمته هو "
59 " إذا نظر امرؤ إلى فم ملك, ظن أنه لم يرضع قط من ثدي أمه "
60 " In the many years in which he had toiled to bring civilization to different parts of Africa he had learned a number of things. One of them was that a District Commissioner must never attend to such undignified details as cutting a hanged man from a tree. Such attention would give the natives a poor opinion of him. In the book which he planned to write he would stress that point. As he walked back to the court he thought about that book. Every day brought him some new material. The story of the man who had killed a messenger and hanged himself would make interesting reading. One could almost write a whole chapter on him. Perhaps not a whole chapter but a reasonable paragraph, at any rate. There was so much else to include, and one must be firm in cutting details. He had already chosen the title of the book, after much thought: The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger. "