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" If African film makers had one-tenth the amount commanded by film makers the world over - even the amount used by so-called shoestring film makers - I think we would see quite an explosion of African films on the world scene. "

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" I don't know any other way to live but to wake up every day armed with my convictions, not yielding them to the threat of danger and to the power and force of people who might despise me. "

Wole Soyinka

Wake Up

Day

" The blatant aggressiveness of theocracies I find distressing, because I grew up when Christians, Muslim and animists lived peacefully together. "

" 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. "

" I like my peace and quiet whenever I can grab it. "

Wole Soyinka

I Can

Quiet

" I grew up in an atmosphere where words were an integral part of culture. "

Wole Soyinka

Words

Where

" One has to confront history honestly. "

" There is only one home to the life of a river-mussel; there is only one home to the life of a tortoise; there is only one shell to the soul of man: there is only one world to the spirit of our race. If that world leaves its course and smashes on boulders of the great void, whose world will give us shelter? "

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

" I love beauty. But I like the beauty accidentally, not dished up, served up on a platter. "

Wole Soyinka

Served

Beauty

" We Nigerians must reclaim our sovereignty, our civic entitlements. "

" You go to conferences, and your fellow African intellectuals - and even heads of state - they all say: 'Nigeria is a big disappointment. It is the shame of the African continent.' "

" I don't have the sort of temperament that submits to Christianity or Islam. "

" 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. "

Wole Soyinka

Nothing

Government

" There is not a special imposition on writers to be activists. All that does is encourage writers to write propaganda. Propaganda can be written by anybody, including dictators. "

" 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. "

" One, a mass movement from within, which, as you know, is constantly being put down brutally but which, again, regroups and moves forward as is happening right now as we are speaking. "

" When I write plays, I'm already seeing the shapes on stage, of the actors and their interaction, and so on and so forth. I don't think I've ever written one play as an abstract piece, as a literary piece, floating in the air somewhere, to be flushed out later on. "

" I consider the process of gestation just as important as when you're actually sitting down putting words to the paper. "

" I'm not fond of biographies. I don't like writing about myself. "

Wole Soyinka

About

Fond

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

" Seven is the magic figure, because that's a symbolic figure of my favorite deity, Ogun. "

" In the world of literature, I see prizes as more of a duty to the craft itself, rather than as something for the individual. "

" The novel, for me, was an accident. I really don't consider myself a novelist. "

" The hand that dips into the bottom of the pot will eat the biggest snail. "

" Looking at faces of people, one gets the feeling there's a lot of work to be done. "

" The writer is the visionary of his people... He anticipates, he warns. "

Wole Soyinka

Visionary

People

" See, even despite pious statements to the contrary, much of the industrialized world has not yet come to terms with the recognition of the fallacy of what I call the strong man syndrome. "

" Probably to me the greatest singer, female voice, is Billie Holiday. And one of the most moving for me, I don't know why - maybe it's nostalgia, maybe because my life is one of constant partying, whatever. "

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

Wole Soyinka

Condition

Humanity

" Some African leaders actually dare to suggest that democracy is a concept alien to traditional African society. This is one of the most impudent political blasphemies I can think of. "