Quotes from Zenzele: A Letter for My Daughter

J. Nozipo Maraire ·  208 pages

Rating: (1K votes)


“There is not a man in the world who is worth your dignity. Do not confuse self-sacrifice with love.”
― J. Nozipo Maraire, quote from Zenzele: A Letter for My Daughter


“To love is a beautiful, mysterious event; do not miss it. Be neither too cautious nor too absorbed. Too many of us reason with our heart and experience with our heads.”
― J. Nozipo Maraire, quote from Zenzele: A Letter for My Daughter


“Welcome, my dear, to the Western world, land of democracy, freedom, and bigotry.”
― J. Nozipo Maraire, quote from Zenzele: A Letter for My Daughter


“Until we begin to put pen to paper, we historically do not exist.”
― J. Nozipo Maraire, quote from Zenzele: A Letter for My Daughter


“Racism is a phenomenal thing; it is like a thick mist that obscures the vision and judgement of even great minds.”
― J. Nozipo Maraire, quote from Zenzele: A Letter for My Daughter



“The heart knows no logic beyond need and desire; the head has no senses except the common and the pragmatic. Neither, frankly, is particularly useful in love, anyway.”
― J. Nozipo Maraire, quote from Zenzele: A Letter for My Daughter


“I had once been naïve enough to believe that all would be well if you lived by the rules. Good things happened to good people, blessed are the meek, et cetera, et cetera. How disillusioned I have become since then. It hurt, because I wondered now what all the discipline, repression, and suppression had been for if it had not procured me the thing I had most wanted, and it certainly did not guarantee happiness.”
― J. Nozipo Maraire, quote from Zenzele: A Letter for My Daughter


“Foreign Cash is not the answers to our problems, my friend. Africa needs the hearts and minds of its sons and daughters to nurture it. You were our pride, Mukoma Bryon. When you did not return, a whole village lost its investment. Africa is all that we have. If we do not build it, no one else will.”
― J. Nozipo Maraire, quote from Zenzele: A Letter for My Daughter


“I suspect, even more importantly, the aged are hidden away so that we do not remember that one day we shall all walk that path, that we shall one day grow slow and stooped.”
― J. Nozipo Maraire, quote from Zenzele: A Letter for My Daughter


“You shall be distinguished overseas by your colourful plumage, graceful flight and beautiful songs. There are so many lovely features that will make you conspicuous among the flock.”
― J. Nozipo Maraire, quote from Zenzele: A Letter for My Daughter



About the author

J. Nozipo Maraire
Born place: in Harare, Zimbabwe
Born date January 1, 1966
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“Yes,’ Smirnov answered, ‘he was on a nuclear-powered submarine.”
― Tom Clancy, quote from The Hunt for Red October


“Motherf**ker. Bastard ass motherf**ker. C**ks**king rat-bitch bastard motherf**ker!” – Blay”
― J.R. Ward, quote from Lover Mine


“But in his experience it was only a matter of time before the normal balance of the universe restored itself and started doing the usual terrible things to him.”
― Terry Pratchett, quote from The Color of Magic


“... Basically, we live a short, disappointing life; and then we die. We fill up oor lives wi shite, things like careers and relationships tae delude oorsels that it isnae aw totally pointless.”
― Irvine Welsh, quote from Trainspotting


“A man, though wise, should never be ashamed of learning more, and must unbend his mind.”
― Sophocles, quote from Antigone


Interesting books

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
(158.4K)
Twenty Thousand Leag...
by Jules Verne
Dandelion Wine
(43.2K)
Dandelion Wine
by Ray Bradbury
Guilty Pleasures
(119.8K)
Guilty Pleasures
by Laurell K. Hamilton
Night World, No. 1
(58.5K)
Night World, No. 1
by L.J. Smith
Unravel Me
(129.1K)
Unravel Me
by Tahereh Mafi
It's Kind of a Funny Story
(178.5K)
It's Kind of a Funny...
by Ned Vizzini

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.