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

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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. "

" 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.' "

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

" 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. "

" 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. "

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

" 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. "

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

" 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. "

" I have a kind of magnetic attraction to situations of violence. "

" 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. "

" I take friendship very seriously. "

" The Lagos of my childhood was a well-laid-out maritime city. "

" 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. "

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

" 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. "

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

" I don't really consider myself a novelist, it just came out purely by accident. "

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

" 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. "

" Politics, I believe, is a full-time occupation. "

" 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. "

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

" Some of the greatest uprisings and consequent civil wars in Mexico have centered squarely on the ownership of land. "

" Writers and intellectuals have a duty to humanity. It is to insist that the human entity remains the primary asset in overall development; thus, it must be safeguarded. "

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

" 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. "

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

" Power is domination, control, and therefore a very selective form of truth which is a lie. "

" I've done a lot of guerrilla theater in my time. "