Quotes by Wole Soyinka

My horizon on humanity is enlarged by reading the writers of poems, seeing a painting, listening to some music, some opera, which has nothing at all to do with a volatile human condition or struggle or whatever. It enriches me as a human being.

Im 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 Ive never understood.

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

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 whos influencing me at any time.

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

Books and all forms of writing are terror to those who wish to suppress the truth.

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

I take friendship very seriously.

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 gradually theyre beginning to recognize the fact that theres nothing more secure than a democratic, accountable, and participatory form of government. But its sunk in only theoretically, it has not yet sunk in completely in practical terms.

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

I began writing early - very, very early... I was already writing short stories for the radio and selling poems to poetry and art festivals; I was involved in school plays; I wrote essays, so there was no definite moment when I said, Now Im a writer. Ive always been a writer.

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?

Im an Afro-realist. I take what comes, and I do my best to affect what is unacceptable in society.

The greatest threat to freedom is the absence of criticism.

I found, when I left, that there were others who felt the same way. Wed meet, theyd come and seek me out, wed talk about the future. And I found that their depression and pessimism was every bit as acute as mine.