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Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Novelist and essayist

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here
To get this prize, I was required to talk about how important a particular European feminist woman writer had been to me. Now the truth was that I had never managed to finish this feminist writer’s book. It did not speak to me. It would have been a lie to claim that she had any major influence on my thinking. […] I could have said that this woman was important to me, and I could have talked the talk, and I could have been given the prize and a shiny present. But I didn’t.

Wellesley College 137th Commencement, 29 May 2015 source ↗

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Warren Buffett Chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway, 1970–2025
Yeah and we get calls all the time, and there's so many calls, but the like I said, it takes me five seconds to say no. It takes, Greg's a little more polite than I am, but I just as soon get the calls just to see what people are doing. But they aren't offering anything that's at an attractive price, and what they want is a trade.
Recorded Becky Quick, CNBC “Squawk Box”, recorded in Omaha; CNBC's own transcript of its own broadcast, 31 March 2026 source ↗
Henry R. Kravis Financier; co-founder of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
And that’s what’s given us the ability to say no. It’s one of the most important things at the end of the day, being able to say no to an investment. Even if you’ve done a lot of work, work will never hurt you.
Recorded Academy of Achievement interview, 12 February 1991 source ↗
Joyce Carol Oates Novelist, short story writer and essayist
I’ve turned down opportunities constantly. I turn down invitations to do things for money. I have almost no interest in making money.
Recorded Academy of Achievement interview, 20 May 1997 source ↗
Ory Okolloh Co-founder of Ushahidi; lawyer and open-government activist
I am personally passionate and anal about non-negotiables. If those needs aren't met, I quit. Life is too short to play-act if you don't have to.
Recorded Quartz written questionnaire source ↗

More from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

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Question What counsel would you give your twenty-year-old self — and what should they ignore? Time & hindsight
All over the world, girls are raised to be make themselves likeable, to twist themselves into shapes that suit other people. Please do not twist yourself into shapes to please. Don’t do it. If someone likes that version of you, that version of you that is false and holds back, then they actually just like that twisted shape, and not you.
Recorded Wellesley College 137th Commencement, 29 May 2015 source ↗
Question How has a setback or failure set you up for later success? Failure & regret
But after one year of medical school I fled. I realized I would be a very unhappy doctor and I really did not want to be responsible for the inadvertent death of my patients. Leaving medical school was a very unusual decision, especially in Nigeria where it is very difficult to get into medical school. Later, people told me that it had been very courageous of me, but I did not feel courageous at all. What I felt then was not courage but a desire to make an effort. To try.
Recorded Wellesley College 137th Commencement, 29 May 2015 source ↗

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