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There ought to be three traditions in the art of humanity: the realistic, the visionary and the wild.

Ben Okri

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Three

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 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 OKRI

Rivers
One of the greatest gifts my father gave me – unintentionally – was witnessing the courage with which he bore adversity.
BEN OKRI

Tranquil
Bad things will happen and good things too. Your life will be full of surprises. Miracles happen only where there has been suffering. So taste your grief to the fullest.
BEN OKRI
I lived rough, by my wits, was homeless, lived on the streets, lived on friends’ floors, was happy, was miserable.

BEN OKRI

I lived rough, by my wits, was homeless, lived on the streets, lived on friends’ floors, was happy, was miserable.
BEN 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 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 OKRI

Discovery Exemptarty Stone Thing
What you see is what you make. What you see in a people is what you eventually create in them.

BEN OKRI

What you see is what you make. What you see in a people is what you eventually create in them.
BEN OKRI

Make
Without stories we would go mad. Life would lose its moorings or lose its orientations. even in silence we are living our stories
BEN OKRI

Mad Stories
We have not yet arrived, but every point at which we stop requires a re-definition of our destination.

BEN OKRI

We have not yet arrived, but every point at which we stop requires a re-definition of our destination.
BEN OKRI

Definitions Require
To sustain your belief through situations that completely undermine it is quite something.
BEN OKRI

Something
The strange thing about Africa is how past, present and future come together in a kind of rough jazz, if you like.
BEN OKRI

Jazz Together
One way or another we are living the stories planted in us early or along the way, or we are also living the stories we planted – knowingly or unknowingly – in ourselves. We live stories that either give our lives meaning or negate it with meaninglessness. If we change the stories we live by, quite possibly we change our lives.’
BEN OKRI

Another Planted Unknowingly
The worst realities of our age are manufactured realities. It is therefore our task, as creative participants in the universe, to re dream our world. The fact of possessing imagination means that everything can be re dreamed. Each reality can have it

BEN OKRI

The worst realities of our age are manufactured realities. It is therefore our task, as creative participants in the universe, to re dream our world. The fact of possessing imagination means that everything can be re dreamed. Each reality can have it
BEN OKRI

Mean
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 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 OKRI
Wholeness is the enemy of the artist. We ought to be broken, ruined in some way.

BEN OKRI

Wholeness is the enemy of the artist. We ought to be broken, ruined in some way.
BEN OKRI

Broken
I held you in the square And felt the evening Re-order itself around Your smile.
BEN OKRI

Order Squares
People are as healthy and confident as the stories they tell themselves.

BEN OKRI

People are as healthy and confident as the stories they tell themselves.
BEN OKRI

Healthy Stories

There ought to be three traditions in the art of humanity: the realistic, the visionary and the wild.

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