Quote by Bessie Head: “The world had its own terrible logic.”

Bessie Head’s quote reflects a bleak view of the world's often harsh and seemingly inescapable realities. It suggests that suffering and injustice are sometimes part of an inherent, cruel order, making it difficult for individuals to find agency or hope.

Head wrote this in exile, grappling with the political violence and personal traumas she experienced and witnessed in Southern Africa, which often seemed governed by an unyielding, oppressive force.

Botswanan novelist born in South Africa to a white mother and Black father, whose birth was considered illegal under apartheid law. Her novels, including A Question of Power (1974), draw on her experiences of exile, mental illness, and displacement to explore questions of identity and belonging in postcolonial Africa.