Some of us – poets are not exactly poets. We live sometimes – beyond the word.
WOLE SOYINKAI think that feeling that if one believed absolutely in any cause, then one must have the confidence, the self-certainty, to go through with that particular course of action.
More Wole Soyinka Quotes
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There’s a lot of insincerity about the actions of our legislators; they create distractions – like this anti-gay law you alluded to – and try to mobilise, to exacerbate people’s emotions. Until the legislators started making laws, people minded, generally, their own business.
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The media must be used effectively to reach the masses. You have to find a new language in which to address the people and demonstrate what is possible.
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Intolerance has always been with us, you know. The moment you have ideology, we have intolerance, whether it’s the secular ideology or, you know ideocratic ideology, which always brings with it some kind of intolerance.
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Writers are human. I shudder to think how I must sometimes appear to others.
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The youth should come together to challenge the status quo. They must not give up.
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I believe that each writer must decide in which language he or she is most comfortable.
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I have one abiding religion-human liberty.
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Well, some people say I’m pessimistic because I recognize the eternal cycle of evil. All I say is, look at the history of mankind right up to this moment and what do you find?
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My definition of slavery is the deprivation of human volition, any form of relationship between two peoples which is based on the deprivation of volition of one side.
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As a global citizen, I sometimes feel like denying my identity.
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Be yourself. Ultimately just be yourself.
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When a leader encourages the culture of impunity, the society is lost and it makes the work harder for the rest of us.
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Colonialism bred an innate arrogance, but when you undertake that sort of imperial adventure, that arrogance gives way to a feeling of accommodativeness. You take pride in your openness.
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Sadness is twilight’s kiss on earth.
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The writer is the visionary of his people… He anticipates, he warns.
WOLE SOYINKA