Soyinka Quotes & Sayings

Power, of course. The primitive fear of being controlled. It does not matter whether it is an invasion from outer space or power wielded from a subterranean command post: some alien force is about to take control on us, to dominate - and, if necessary in the process, to terminate our existence. We never stop to think - or, at best, a secondary consideration is whether such a force might be for the good, that humanity might indeed be improved by such a takeover. Volition, to which we desperately cling, is the very definition of our mature completion as social beings. — Wole Soyinka

My father used to tell me stories before I fell asleep. When the children would gather, at a certain point, I had a tendency to make up my own elementary variations on stories I had heard, or to invent totally new ones. — Wole Soyinka

It's the place to begin, always
to return to home, literally. — Wole Soyinka

I cannot accept the definition of collective good as articulated by a privileged minority in society, especially when that minority is in power. — Wole Soyinka

The writer is the visionary of his people ... He anticipates, he warns. — Wole Soyinka

In any case, the Christian world is not one, neither is the Islamic, nor does their combined authority speak to or for the entire world, but the world of the fanatic IS one and it cuts across all religions, ideologies and vocations. The tributaries that feed the cesspool of fanaticism may ooze from sources separated by history, clime and race, by injustices and numerous privations, but they arrive at the same destination - the zone of unquestioning certitude - sped by a common impetus that licences each to proclaim itself the pure and unsullied among the polluted. The zealot is one that creates a Supreme Being, or Supreme Purpose, in his or her own image, then carries out the orders of that solipsistic device that commands from within, in lofty alienation from, and utter contempt of, society and community. — Wole Soyinka

I never hesitated, as a student, in embracing the necessity of violence. In South Africa, I didn't just accept it; I looked forward to it as a mission. — Wole Soyinka

Today, the constituency of fear has become much broader, far less selective — Wole Soyinka

Military dictatorship, you can focus on it, you can fight it directly. It's a band of power-driven people. — Wole Soyinka

The idea of having to make constant reference to politics is anathema to my calling as a writer. — Wole Soyinka

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. — Wole Soyinka

We do not ask the mountain's aid to crack a walnut. — Wole Soyinka

A human feast is an indifferent morsel to a god. — Wole Soyinka

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. — Wole Soyinka

I can look violence in the face and either reject or accept it. — Wole Soyinka

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

I take friendship very seriously. — Wole Soyinka

There's a kind of dynamic quality about theater and that dynamic quality expresses itself in relation to, first of all, the environment in which it's being staged; then the audience, the nature of the audience, the quality of the audience. — Wole Soyinka

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

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

Everything is linked,' said an enraptured Baremboim on stage; 'everyone is linked, all our actions have ramifications, and music is a teacher of this interconnected reality.' There was, however, in the letter a mundane, prosaic footnote that nibbled at the very edges of possible understanding, since understanding must always be preceded by human curiosity. Perhaps it will vanish in the charged space between one suicide bomber and the next military bulldozer that buries human beings alive within the imagined security of their own homes; perhaps it will join other shards of recollected moments of curiosity and discovery, to weld into a vessel of receptivity and response. — Wole Soyinka

As I grew older and more mature, I've been able to move beyond the immediate response of violence to a projection of the pragmatic, political consequences of that violence. So it's an effort to attain equilibrium. — Wole Soyinka

I said: "A tiger does not proclaim his tigritude, he pounces". In other words: a tiger does not stand in the forest and say: "I am a tiger". When you pass where the tiger has walked before, you see the skeleton of the duiker, you know that some tigritude has been emanated there. — Wole Soyinka

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

We Nigerians must reclaim our sovereignty, our civic entitlements. — Wole Soyinka

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

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

Well, I think the Yoruba gods are truthful. Truthful in the sense that i consider religion and the construct of deities simply an extension of human qualities taken, if you like, to the nth degree. i mistrust gods who become so separated from humanity that enormous crimes can be committed in their names. i prefer gods who can be brought down to earth and judged, if you like. — Wole Soyinka

I have a kind of magnetic attraction to situations of violence. — Wole Soyinka

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. — Wole Soyinka

Culture is a matrix of infinite possibilities and choices. From within the same culture matrix we can extract arguments and strategies for the degradation and ennoblement of our species, for its enslavement or liberation, for the suppression of its productive potential or its enhancement. — Wole Soyinka

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. — Wole Soyinka

A tiger does not shout its tigritude, it acts. — Wole Soyinka

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

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

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

The arrogant elimination of the Djaouts of our world must nerve us to pursue our own combative doctrine, namely: that peaceful cohabitation on this planet demands that while the upholders of any creed are free to adopt their own existential absolutes, the right of others to do the same is thereby rendered implicit and sacrosanct. Thus the creed of inquiry, of knowledge and exchange of ideas, must be upheld as an absolute, as ancient and eternal as any other. — Wole Soyinka

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. — Wole Soyinka

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. — Wole Soyinka

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

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

Writing in certain environments carries with it an occupational risk. — Wole Soyinka

I'm an Afro-realist. I take what comes, and I do my best to affect what is unacceptable in society. — Wole Soyinka

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. — Wole Soyinka

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

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

For me, justice is the prime condition of humanity. — Wole Soyinka

The phenomenon of creativity, we know, is closely related to the ability to yoke together separate, and even seemingly incompatible, matrices. — Wole Soyinka

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. — Wole Soyinka

No human is completely fearless. — Wole Soyinka

The Nation of Islam provides an antidote in the United States to fundamentalist Islam - which is why individuals from America have to go abroad to find radical teachings. — Wole Soyinka

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

No man beholds his mother's womb Yet who denies it's there? Coiled To the navel of the world is that Endless cord that links us all To the great Origin. If I lose my way. The trailing cord will bring me to the roots. — Wole Soyinka

One has to confront history honestly. — Wole Soyinka

Sadly, it is within the religious domain that the phenomenon of rhetorical hysteria takes its most devastating form. I am aware that, in some minds, this tends to be regarded as a delicate subject. Let me declare very simply that I do not share such a sentiment. There is nothing in the least delicate about the slaughter of innocents. We all subscribe to the lofty notions contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights but, for some reason, become suddenly coy and selective when it comes to defending what is obviously the most elementary of these rights, which is the right to life. One of my all-time favourite lines comes from the black American poet Langston Hughes. It reads, simply, 'There is no lavender word for lynch'. — Wole Soyinka

We live in a materialist world, and materialism appeals so strongly to humanity, no matter where. — Wole Soyinka

Writers are human. I shudder to think how I must sometimes appear to others. — Wole Soyinka

But the ultimate lesson is just sit down and write. That's all. — Wole Soyinka

I grew up in an atmosphere where words were an integral part of culture. — Wole Soyinka

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. — Wole Soyinka

The man dies in all who keep silent in the face of tyranny — Wole Soyinka

I like my peace and quiet whenever I can grab it. — Wole Soyinka

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

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. — Wole Soyinka

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

I have one abiding religion-human liberty. — Wole Soyinka

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

I think that feeling that if one believed absolutely in any cause, then one must have the confidence, the self-certainty, to go through with that particular course of action. — Wole Soyinka

The fault, of course, is not in religion, but in the fanatic of every religion. Fanaticism remains the greatest carrier of the spores of fear, and the rhetoric of religion, with the hysteria it so readily generates, is fast becoming the readiest killing device of contemporary times. — Wole Soyinka

Be yourself. Ultimately just be yourself. — Wole Soyinka

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. — Wole Soyinka

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

You always assume for some strange reason that you need three meals a day. — Wole Soyinka

Nigeria has had the misfortune - no, the fortune - of seeing the worst face of capitalism anywhere in Africa. The masses have seen it, they are disgusted, and they want an alternative. — Wole Soyinka

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

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

The Lagos of my childhood was a well-laid-out maritime city. — Wole Soyinka

No writer has a right to make that much money. Indeed, without diabolical assistance, no writer can. — Wole Soyinka

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

Trading and religion have always been aligned together in the history of the world, and especially on the African continent. — Wole Soyinka

One thing I can tell you is this, that I am not a methodical writer. — Wole Soyinka

Don't take shadows too seriously. Reality is your only safety. Continue to reject illusion. — Wole Soyinka

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

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. — Wole Soyinka

The greatest threat to freedom is the absence of criticism. — Wole Soyinka

I'm not one of those writers I learned about who get up in the morning, put a piece of paper in their typewriter machine and start writing. That I've never understood. — Wole Soyinka

the very least we can live with is an agreement that does not reduce us to slaves of imposition, but makes us partners of consent. Yes, we are compelled to make peace, we submit to force majeure, but leave us at least a piece of clothing to cover our nudity. This is the motivation behind every formula of diplomatic contrivance that is sometimes described as face-saving, and wise indeed is the victor who knows that, in order to shield his own rear from the elements, he must not denude his opponents. — Wole Soyinka

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

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. — Wole Soyinka

Writers who open up horizons for other people are performing a function every bit as important as a consciously politicized writer. — Wole Soyinka

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

Education is lacking in most of those who pontificate. — Wole Soyinka

There's something about the theater which makes my fingertips tingle. — Wole Soyinka

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

Profanity is the name given to the defilement of the sanctity of human life. — Michael Bassey Johnson

My understanding of the creative process is simply that all cultures and all concerns meet at a certain point, the human point in which everything is related to one another. That has been my creative experience. I never know who's influencing me at any time. — Wole Soyinka

I ceased using words like optimism and pessimism a long time ago. — Wole Soyinka

Sadness is twilight's kiss on earth. — Wole Soyinka

SOYINKA WON THE NOBEL PRIZE
ACHEBE, LITERARY COMMANDER
P.D. JAMES, WE LOVE HER
AGATHA CHRISTIE, QUEEN OF CRIME — S.A. David

Politics, I believe, is a full-time occupation. — Wole Soyinka