Only those who truly love and who are truly strong can sustain their lives as a dream. You dwell in your own enchantment.
BEN OKRIOnly those who truly love and who are truly strong can sustain their lives as a dream. You dwell in your own enchantment.
BEN OKRIIf we could be pure dancers in spirit we would never be afraid to love, and we would love with strength and wisdom.
BEN OKRIIf you are working in an office, where do you find the time to write a novel? But you can finish a short story in five pages. Furthermore, a short story is a perfect place to learn the craft
BEN OKRIThe strange thing about Africa is how past, present and future come together in a kind of rough jazz, if you like.
BEN OKRIThe acknowledged legislators of the world take the world as given. They dislike mysteries, for mysteries cannot be coded, or legislated, and wonder cannot be made into law. And so these legislators police the accepted frontiers of things.
BEN OKRIMagic becomes art when it has nothing to hide.
BEN OKRIReading, 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 OKRIStories can conquer fear, you know. They can make the heart bigger.
BEN OKRII am not fighting for success, just to get more beauty out of myself and share it with more people.
BEN OKRIDestiny plans a different route and fulfills the dream in ways we couldn’t have expected.
BEN OKRIIf 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 OKRII held you in the square And felt the evening Re-order itself around Your smile.
BEN OKRIMagic becomes art when it has nothing to hide.
BEN OKRIPeople that don’t exist, places you’ve never visited, enigmatic fates, all come to life in the mind, painted into existence by the reader’s creative powers. In this way the creativity of the writer calls up the creativity of the reader. Reading is never passive.
BEN OKRIThe 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 OKRII was told stories, we were all told stories as kids in Nigeria. We had to tell stories that would keep one another interested, and you weren’t allowed to tell stories that everybody else knew. You had to dream up new ones.
BEN OKRI