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" 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

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" No human is completely fearless. "

Wole Soyinka

Fearless

Human

" 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 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. "

" One has to confront history honestly. "

" 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. "

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

Wole Soyinka

I Can

Quiet

" 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. "

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

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

" There's no way to escape the culture that has evolved, from which we ourselves have evolved. Naturally, we stress it, break it up, reassemble it to suit our own needs. But it is there - a source of vital strength. "

" 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. "

" Those nations that say it's a crime to preach your religion are making a terrible mistake. All they're doing is driving underground other forms of spiritual intuitions and practices. "

" The man dies in all who keep silent in the face of tyranny. "

" Well, first of all I'll say that I come alive best in theater. "

" I've always written plays for the purpose of getting something out of my system. "

" Writing in certain environments carries with it an occupational risk. "

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

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

Wole Soyinka

Condition

Humanity

" I take friendship very seriously. "

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

" I like to say, 'I spend one-third of my time in Nigeria, one-third in Europe or America, and one-third on a plane.' "

" There's something about the theater which makes my fingertips tingle. "

" 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. "

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

" The problem with literature, with writing, is that it works sometimes in terms of correction of social ills. Other times, it just does not suffice. "

" The Sudanese government has been playing games with the world, with the Africa Union, in particular, have been playing for time in order to conclude its mission of ethnic cleansing in the Sudan. "

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

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

Wole Soyinka

Visionary

People

" 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. "

" Very conscious of the fact that an effort was being made to destroy my mind, because I was deprived of books, deprived of any means of writing, deprived of human companionship. You never know how much you need it until you're deprived of it. "