# Quote — Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart

> Okonkwo was popularly called the "Roaring Flame." As he looked into the log fire he recalled the name. He was a flaming fire. How then could he have begotten a son like Nwoye, degenerate and effeminate? [...]
>
> He sighed heavily, and as if in sympathy the smoldering log also sighed. And immediately Okonkwo's eyes were opened and he saw the whole matter clearly. Living fire begets cold, impotent ash. He sighed again, deeply.

- Author: [Chinua Achebe](https://www.leafyquotes.com/chinua-achebe.md)
- Book: [Things Fall Apart](https://www.leafyquotes.com/chinua-achebe/things-fall-apart.md)
- Page: 143
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Chinua_Achebe#Things_Fall_Apart_(1958)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/chinua-achebe/things-fall-apart/okonkwo-was-popularly

## More from this book

> As a man danced so the drums were beaten for him.

p. 170 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/chinua-achebe/things-fall-apart/as-a-man.md)

> The Ibo people have a proverb that when a man says 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.

p. 29 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/chinua-achebe/things-fall-apart/the-ibo-people.md)

> "Let us give them a portion of the Evil Forest. They boast about victory over death. Let us give them a real battlefield in which to show their victory." [...] They offered them as much of the Evil Forest as they cared to take. And to their great amazement the missionaries thanked them and burst into song.

p. 139 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/chinua-achebe/things-fall-apart/let-us-give.md)