Nobody can teach me who I am. - Chinua Achebe

Among the Ibo the art of conversation is regarded very highly, and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten.

"Unoka went into an inner room and soon returned with a small wooden disc containing a kola nut, some alligator pepper and a lump of white chalk.

"I have kola," he announced when he sat down, and passed the disc over to his guest.

"Thank you. He who brings kola brings life. But I think you ought to break it," replied Okoye passing back the disc.

"No, it is for you, I think," and they argued like this for a few moments before Unoka accepted the honor of breaking the kola. Okoye, meanwhile, took the lump of chalk, drew some lines on the floor, and then painted his big toe."

What art tries to do is domesticate whatever is around and press it into the service of man. Morality is basic to the nature of art.