Quotes from Wole Soyinka

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

I'm not fond of biographies. I don't like writing about myself.

I take friendship very seriously.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

The greatest threat to freedom is the absence of criticism.

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

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.

A tiger does not shout its tigritude, it acts.

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

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.

One has to confront history honestly.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

Just like birds, hunters know no borders.

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