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" I've always written plays for the purpose of getting something out of my system. "
Wole Soyinka
System
Purpose
Out
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" Art is solace; art is vision, and when I pick up a literary work, I am a consumer of literature for its own sake. "
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" Writing in certain environments carries with it an occupational risk. "
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Environments
Certain
Risk
" A tiger does not shout its tigritude, it acts. "
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Does
Shout
Tiger
" The hand that dips into the bottom of the pot will eat the biggest snail. "
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Eat
Bottom
Will
" 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. "
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You
Citizen
Human
" The phenomenon of creativity, we know, is closely related to the ability to yoke together separate, and even seemingly incompatible, matrices. "
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Know
Together
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" One has to confront history honestly. "
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Honestly
History
Confront
" Trading and religion have always been aligned together in the history of the world, and especially on the African continent. "
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History
World
Together
" 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. "
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Know
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My Life
" I am a glutton for tranquility. "
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Tranquility
I Am
Am
" In Africa, those who have money - businessmen and banks - do not believe in film. "
Wole Soyinka
Believe
Those
Africa
" One has a responsibility to clean up one's space and make it livable as far as one's own resources go. That includes not only material resources, but psychological resources: the commitment of time and a portion of your mind to something when you'd rather be doing something else. "
Wole Soyinka
Commitment
Time
Space
" There are different kinds of artists and very often, I'll be very frank with you, I wish I were a different kind. "
Wole Soyinka
I Wish
You
Wish
" No human is completely fearless. "
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Fearless
Human
" Well, the first thing is that truth and power for me form an antithesis, an antagonism, which will hardly ever be resolved. I can define in fact, can simplify the history of human society, the evolution of human society, as a contest between power and freedom. "
Wole Soyinka
Truth
Society
Power
" One's own self-worth is tied to the worth of the community to which one belongs, which is intimately connected to humanity in general. What happens in Darfur becomes an assault on my own community, and on me as an individual. That's what the human family is all about. "
Wole Soyinka
Worth
Me
Humanity
" But the ultimate lesson is just sit down and write. That's all. "
Wole Soyinka
Write
Just
Lesson
" I found, when I left, that there were others who felt the same way. We'd meet, they'd come and seek me out, we'd talk about the future. And I found that their depression and pessimism was every bit as acute as mine. "
Wole Soyinka
Depression
Me
Meet
" You cannot live a normal existence if you haven't taken care of a problem that affects your life and affects the lives of others, values that you hold which in fact define your very existence. "
Wole Soyinka
Values
Care
Life
" There is something really horrific for any human being who feels he is being consumed by other people. I'm talking about a writer's critics, who don't address what you've written, but want to probe into your existence and magnify the trivia of your life without any sense of humor, without any sense of context. "
Wole Soyinka
Life
Humor
You
" Some people think the Nobel Prize makes you bullet-proof. I never had that illusion. "
Wole Soyinka
You
Never
People
" I love beauty. But I like the beauty accidentally, not dished up, served up on a platter. "
Wole Soyinka
Served
Up
Beauty
" The scales of reckoning with mortality are never evenly weighted, alas, and thus it is on the shoulders of the living that the burden of justice must continue to rest. "
Wole Soyinka
Living
Justice
Rest
" Well, first of all I'll say that I come alive best in theater. "
Wole Soyinka
Come
First
Best
" I ceased using words like optimism and pessimism a long time ago. "
Wole Soyinka
Time
Optimism
Long Time
" 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. "
Wole Soyinka
Think
Air
Play
" Rwanda, which is one of the younger independent states in Africa, must be regarded as a model of how great human trauma can be transformed to commence true reconstruction of people. Human trauma can lead to stunted growth and mass withdrawal. "
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Growth
True
People
" Just like birds, hunters know no borders. "
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Know
Just
Borders
" 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. "
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Society
Democracy
Political
" I'm not sure I'm trying to communicate a message. I'm just trying to be part of the movement away from the unacceptable present. "
Wole Soyinka
Message
Trying
Present