Wole Soyinka Quotes

Books and all forms of writing have always been objects of terror to those who seek to suppress the truth. — Wole Soyinka

We do not ask the mountain's aid to crack a walnut. — Wole Soyinka

I consider the process of gestation just as important as when you're actually sitting down putting words to the paper. — Wole Soyinka

The Lagos of my childhood was a well-laid-out maritime city. — Wole Soyinka

I've done a lot of guerrilla theater in my time. — Wole Soyinka

Art is solace; art is vision, and when I pick up a literary work, I am a consumer of literature for its own sake. — Wole Soyinka

The idea of having to make constant reference to politics is anathema to my calling as a writer. — Wole Soyinka

The greatest threat to freedom is the absence of criticism. — Wole Soyinka

I'm an Afro-realist. I take what comes, and I do my best to affect what is unacceptable in society. — Wole Soyinka

I grew up in an atmosphere where words were an integral part of culture. — Wole Soyinka

The writer is the visionary of his people ... He anticipates, he warns. — Wole Soyinka

Today, the constituency of fear has become much broader, far less selective — Wole Soyinka

If man cannot, what god dare claim perfection? — Wole Soyinka

Human life has meaning only to that degree and as long as it is lived in the service of humanity. — Wole Soyinka

I ceased using words like optimism and pessimism a long time ago. — Wole Soyinka

A tiger doesn't proclaim its tigerness; it jumps on its prey — Wole Soyinka

Writers who open up horizons for other people are performing a function every bit as important as a consciously politicized writer. — Wole Soyinka

Under a dictatorship, a nation ceases to exist. All that remains is a fiefdom, a planet of slaves regimented by aliens from outer space. — Wole Soyinka

We live in a materialist world, and materialism appeals so strongly to humanity, no matter where. — Wole Soyinka

I'm not fond of biographies. I don't like writing about myself. — Wole Soyinka

No writer has a right to make that much money. Indeed, without diabolical assistance, no writer can. — Wole Soyinka

I cannot belong to a nation which permits such barbarities as stoning to death and amputation - I don't care what religion it is. — Wole Soyinka

A human feast is an indifferent morsel to a god. — Wole Soyinka

A tiger does not shout its tigritude, it acts. — Wole Soyinka

Writing in certain environments carries with it an occupational risk. — Wole Soyinka

A tiger doesn't proclaim his tigritude, he pounces — Wole Soyinka

I can look violence in the face and either reject or accept it. — Wole Soyinka

Before you're a writer, you're a citizen, a human being, and therefore the weapons of the citizen are at your disposal to use or not use. — Wole Soyinka

An excessive amount of my time is taken with political involvement. It's unavoidable; that's my temperament. — Wole Soyinka

Profanity is the name given to the defilement of the sanctity of human life. — Michael Bassey Johnson

Military dictatorship, you can focus on it, you can fight it directly. It's a band of power-driven people. — Wole Soyinka

Sadness is twilight's kiss on earth. — Wole Soyinka

Just like birds, hunters know no borders. — Wole Soyinka

I'm not sure I'm trying to communicate a message. I'm just trying to be part of the movement away from the unacceptable present. — Wole Soyinka

I have one abiding religion-human liberty. — Wole Soyinka

I love beauty. But I like the beauty accidentally, not dished up, served up on a platter. — Wole Soyinka

Suddenly the world has run amok and left you alone and sane behind — Wole Soyinka

In the world of literature, I see prizes as more of a duty to the craft itself, rather than as something for the individual. — Wole Soyinka

Romance is the sweetening of the soul
With fragrance offered by the stricken heart. — Wole Soyinka

Each time I think I've created time for myself, along comes a throwback to disrupt my private space. — Wole Soyinka

For the fire consumes all but the arsonist. — Wole Soyinka

There's something about the theater which makes my fingertips tingle. — Wole Soyinka

The hand that dips into the bottom of the pot will eat the biggest snail. — Wole Soyinka

But the ultimate lesson is just sit down and write. That's all. — Wole Soyinka

Seven is the magic figure, because that's a symbolic figure of my favorite deity, Ogun. — Wole Soyinka

I don't really consider myself a novelist, it just came out purely by accident. — Wole Soyinka

Politics, I believe, is a full-time occupation. — Wole Soyinka

Trading and religion have always been aligned together in the history of the world, and especially on the African continent. — Wole Soyinka

I don't have the sort of temperament that submits to Christianity or Islam. — Wole Soyinka

Looking at faces of people, one gets the feeling there's a lot of work to be done. — Wole Soyinka

The problem with literature, with writing, is that it works sometimes in terms of correction of social ills. Other times, it just does not suffice. — Wole Soyinka

The man dies in all who keep silent in the face of tyranny — Wole Soyinka

Some of the greatest uprisings and consequent civil wars in Mexico have centered squarely on the ownership of land. — Wole Soyinka

Well, first of all I'll say that I come alive best in theater. — Wole Soyinka

I am convinced that Nigeria would have been a more highly developed country without the oil. I wished we'd never smelled the fumes of petroleum. — Wole Soyinka

Even when I'm writing plays I enjoy having company and mentally I think of that company as the company I'm writing for. — Wole Soyinka

All religions accept that there is something called 'criminality.' And criminality cannot be excused by religious fervour. — Wole Soyinka

I have a kind of magnetic attraction to situations of violence. — Wole Soyinka

I am a glutton for tranquility. — Wole Soyinka

We Nigerians must reclaim our sovereignty, our civic entitlements. — Wole Soyinka

Don't take shadows too seriously. Reality is your only safety. Continue to reject illusion. — Wole Soyinka

History teaches us to beware of the excitation of the liberated and the injustices that often accompany their righteous thirst for justice. — Wole Soyinka

The man dies in all those that keep silent. — Wole Soyinka

You always assume for some strange reason that you need three meals a day. — Wole Soyinka

No human is completely fearless. — Wole Soyinka

The Mind is the sole coefficient of Time and Space. - Wole Soyinka — Majemite Jaboro

One has to confront history honestly. — Wole Soyinka

Be yourself. Ultimately just be yourself. — Wole Soyinka

For me, justice is the prime condition of humanity. — Wole Soyinka

African film makers are scraping by on a mere pittance. — Wole Soyinka

In Africa, those who have money - businessmen and banks - do not believe in film. — Wole Soyinka

One thing I can tell you is this, that I am not a methodical writer. — Wole Soyinka

Writers are human. I shudder to think how I must sometimes appear to others. — Wole Soyinka

I take friendship very seriously. — Wole Soyinka

Books and all forms of writing are terror to those who wish to suppress truth. — Wole Soyinka

Education is lacking in most of those who pontificate. — Wole Soyinka

The novel, for me, was an accident. I really don't consider myself a novelist. — Wole Soyinka

And I believe that the best learning process of any kind of craft is just to look at the work of others. — Wole Soyinka

I've always written plays for the purpose of getting something out of my system. — Wole Soyinka

I cannot accept the definition of collective good as articulated by a privileged minority in society, especially when that minority is in power. — Wole Soyinka

I like to say, 'I spend one-third of my time in Nigeria, one-third in Europe or America, and one-third on a plane.' — Wole Soyinka

The phenomenon of creativity, we know, is closely related to the ability to yoke together separate, and even seemingly incompatible, matrices. — Wole Soyinka

Power is domination, control, and therefore a very selective form of truth which is a lie. — Wole Soyinka

I like my peace and quiet whenever I can grab it. — Wole Soyinka

The blatant aggressiveness of theocracies I find distressing, because I grew up when Christians, Muslim and animists lived peacefully together. — Wole Soyinka

Some people think the Nobel Prize makes you bullet-proof. I never had that illusion. — Wole Soyinka

It's the place to begin, always
to return to home, literally. — Wole Soyinka

Let's say there are prospects for a new Nigeria, but I don't think we have a new Nigeria yet. — Wole Soyinka