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All Quotes by author - Wole Soyinka

" African film makers are scraping by on a mere pittance. "

" After the death of the sadistic dictator Gen. Sanni Abacha in 1998, Nigeria underwent a one-year transitional military administration headed by Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, who uncharacteristically bowed out precisely on the promised date for military disengagement. Did the military truly disengage, however? No. "

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

" And gradually they're beginning to recognize the fact that there's nothing more secure than a democratic, accountable, and participatory form of government. But it's sunk in only theoretically, it has not yet sunk in completely in practical terms. "

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

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

" An idyllic period of my existence was when I had a den attached to my home... a writing den, and no one had access to that unless they had their own special visa, applied for weeks in advance. "

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

" A tiger does not shout its tigritude, it acts. "

" A war, with its attendant human suffering, must, when that evil is unavoidable, be made to fragment more than buildings: It must shatter the foundations of thought and re-create. Only in this way does every individual share in the cataclysm and understand the purpose of sacrifice. "

" 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. "

" Being the first black Nobel laureate, and the first African, the African world considered me personal property. I lost the remaining shreds of my anonymity, even to walk a few yards in London, Paris or Frankfurt without being stopped. "

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

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

" But theater, because of its nature, both text, images, multimedia effects, has a wider base of communication with an audience. That's why I call it the most social of the various art forms. "

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

" But when you're deprived of it for a lengthy period then you value human companionship. But you have to survive and so you devise all kinds of mental exercises and it's amazing. "

" 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. "

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

" Education is lacking in most of those who pontificate. "

" England is the breeding ground of fundamentalist Muslims. Its social logic is to allow all religions to preach openly. But this is illogic, because none of the other religions preach apocalyptic violence. And yet England allows it. "

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

" For me, justice is the prime condition of humanity. "

" Given the scale of trauma caused by the genocide, Rwanda has indicated that however thin the hope of a community can be, a hero always emerges. Although no one can dare claim that it is now a perfect state, and that no more work is needed, Rwanda has risen from the ashes as a model or truth and reconciliation. "

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

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

" I am a glutton for tranquility. "

" 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. "

" I began writing early - very, very early... I was already writing short stories for the radio and selling poems to poetry and art festivals; I was involved in school plays; I wrote essays, so there was no definite moment when I said, 'Now I'm a writer.' I've always been a writer. "

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

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