Wole Soyinka
Wole Soyinka
Akinwande Oluwole "Wole" Babatunde Soyinkais a Nigerian playwright and poet. He was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature, the first African to be honored in that category...
NationalityNigerian
ProfessionPlaywright
Date of Birth13 July 1934
CityAbeokuta, Nigeria
CountryNigeria
strong men world
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.
home men race
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?
book writing wish
Books and all forms of writing are terror to those who wish to suppress the truth.
gun play voice
. . . as far as the regime is concerned, well, the play is sheer terror for them. Because they feel, How dare - how dare anybody lift his or her voice in criticism against us? We have the guns. Their level of paranoia and power-drunkenness is unbelievable.
writing important gestation
I consider the process of gestation just as important as when you're actually sitting down putting words to the paper.
violence students accepting
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.
heart romance soul
Romance is the sweetening of the soul With fragrance offered by the stricken heart.
people visionaries anticipate
The writer is the visionary of his people... He anticipates, he warns.
people feelings done
Looking at faces of people, one gets the feeling there's a lot of work to be done.
country oil convinced
I am convinced that Nigeria would have been a more highly developed country without the oil. I wished we'd never smelled the fumes of petroleum.
writing down-and lessons
But the ultimate lesson is just sit down and write. That's all.
definitions minorities accepting
I cannot accept the definition of collective good as articulated by a privileged minority in society, especially when that minority is in power.
people everyday wake-up
I don’t know any other way to live but to wake up everyday armed with my convictions, not yielding them to the threat of danger and to the power and force of people who might despise me.
humanity matter world
We live in a materialist world, and materialism appeals so strongly to humanity, no matter where.