Wole Soyinka quotes: wise famous quotes, sayings and quotations by Wole Soyinka

Wole Soyinka Famous Quotes & Sayings

Discover top inspirational quotes from Wole Soyinka on Wise Famous Quotes.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The greatest threat to freedom is the absence of criticism.

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

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

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

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

If man cannot, what god dare claim perfection?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A human feast is an indifferent morsel to a god.

A tiger does not shout its tigritude, it acts.

Writing in certain environments carries with it an occupational risk.

A tiger doesn't proclaim his tigritude, he pounces

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

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.

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

Sadness is twilight's kiss on earth.

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

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.

Just like birds, hunters know no borders.

I have one abiding religion-human liberty.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

For the fire consumes all but the arsonist.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Politics, I believe, is a full-time occupation.

I have a kind of magnetic attraction to situations of violence.

I am a glutton for tranquility.

We Nigerians must reclaim our sovereignty, our civic entitlements.

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

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

The man dies in all those that keep silent.

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

No human is completely fearless.

One has to confront history honestly.

Be yourself. Ultimately just be yourself.

For me, justice is the prime condition of humanity.

African film makers are scraping by on a mere pittance.

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

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

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

I take friendship very seriously.

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

Education is lacking in most of those who pontificate.

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

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

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

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

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.'

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

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

I like my peace and quiet whenever I can grab it.

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

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

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

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