The best writing is not about the writer, the best writing is absolutely not about the writer, it’s about us, it’s about the reader.
BEN OKRI
BEN OKRI
Ben Okri on absolutely
Ben Okri79 quotes“The best writing is not about the writer, the best writing is absolutely not about the writer, it’s about us, it’s about the reader.”
Filed under
More from Ben Okri
Reading, therefore, is a co-production between writer and reader. The simplicity of this tool is astounding. So little, yet out of it whole worlds, eras, characters, continents, people never encountered before, people you wouldn’t care to sit next to in a train.
Ben OkriBen Okri Life throws stones at you, but your love and your dream change those stones into the flowers of discovery. Even if you lose, or are defeated by things, your triumph will always be exemplary. And if no one knows it, then there are places that do.
Ben OkriBen Okri Creativity is the art of the impossible
Ben OkriBen Okri If we are true, if we can love, if we have vision, if we can have courage, we can, we should, we ought to, we will.
Ben OkriBen Okri Painters ought to be mute. Speech is the enemy of expression.
Ben OkriBen Okri To sustain your belief through situations that completely undermine it is quite something.
Ben OkriBen Okri An inner darkness is darker than an outer darkness.
Ben OkriBen Okri Beware of the stories you read or tell; subtly, at night, beneath the waters of consciousness, they are altering your world.
Ben OkriBen Okri In the beginning there was a river. The river became a road and the road branched out to the whole world. And because the road was once a river it was always hungry.
Ben OkriBen Okri I went to London because, for me, it was the home of literature. I went there because of Dickens and Shakespeare.
Ben OkriBen Okri The higher the artist, the fewer the gestures. The fewer the tools, the greater the imagination. The greater the will, the greater the secret failure.
Ben OkriBen Okri One of the greatest gifts my father gave me – unintentionally – was witnessing the courage with which he bore adversity.
Ben OkriBen Okri The greatest religions convert the world through stories.
Ben OkriBen Okri People like you enrich the dreams of the worlds, and it is dreams that create history. People like you are unknowing transformers of things, protected by your own fairy-tale, by love.
Ben OkriBen Okri We have not yet arrived, but every point at which we stop requires a re-definition of our destination.
Ben OkriBen Okri We plan our lives according to a dream that came to us in our childhood, and we find that life alters our plans. And yet, at the end, from a rare height, we also see that our dream was our fate. It’s just that providence had other ideas as to how we would get there.
Ben OkriBen Okri
Original quotes
From our community writers
Our only limitation is that we only believe what is visible to our eyes and audible to our ears.
Shilpa GoelShilpa Goel Some days, you will be close to the finish line and still not make it.
Sonia SabnisSonia Sabnis Life-transforming ideas have always come to me through books.
Bell HooksBell Hooks I separated someplace for each person in my heart, But she claimed to be the owner of it.
Moses AlexanderMoses Alexander Modern-day love stories are born not out of love, but a tired mind and a restless heart.
Puneet MehraPuneet Mehra Forcing things only creates more tension in the mind. Let go.
Ayaka HaseAyaka Hase It doesn’t take courage to find peace in the arms of destiny. It takes faith.
Anamika GargAnamika Garg I can’t wait to collect memories from every corner of the earth to splash in the vastness of this beautiful world.
Julia Kellogg HenryJulia Kellogg Henry
Meet the writers
More on absolutely
Outside His will, outside His thought, all is nothing, even the things which seem to us absolutely self-evident such as space and time.
Aga Khan IIIAga Khan III He’s not cruel. He just does what he has to do. And in his own mind, he’s absolutely right.
Adrian HodgesAdrian Hodges Half of it is absolutely genuine, and half of it is us playing around with that fact.
Adam SavageAdam Savage If you’re a guy, you have absolutely no idea what’s going on at any time in the relationship, ever.
Adam CarollaAdam Carolla Am I in love? Absolutely. I’m in love with ancient philosophers, foreign painters, classic authors, and musicians who have died long ago. I’m a passionate lover.
James DeanJames Dean Just take a big belly laugh. I have watched people laughing, and for a moment they look-and are-absolutely helpless. . You can be assaulted while you are laughing.
Abe BurrowsAbe Burrows The absolutely Non-Manifested cannot be designated by any expression which could limit It, Separate It, or include It. In spite of this, every allusion alludes only to Him, every designation designates Him, and He is at the same time the Non-Manifested and the Manifested.
Abdelkader El DjezairiAbdelkader El Djezairi There is absolutely no greater high than challenging the power structure as a nobody, giving it your all, and winning. I think I’ve learned that lesson twice now.
Abbie HoffmanAbbie Hoffman