Each time I think Ive created time for myself, along comes a throwback to disrupt my private space. Wole Soyinka More Quotes by Wole Soyinka More Quotes From Wole Soyinka I do not believe that it is necessarily the duty of the writer to give a voice to his community. If a writer is true to his vocation, to his or her vocation, the very process of creativity enlarges these human horizons. It provides insights, even when you're not writing, when your writing's not dealing with a concrete political situation. Wole Soyinka creativitywritingbelieve For many playwrights, they write the plays anyway because they've got to be, the work has been started, it's got to be finished, but we all long, I think, to see the plays fleshed out on stage and I'm exactly like that. Yes, I'm not satisfied until I actually see it on stage. Wole Soyinka playwritingthinking If I were sure I would pass the physicals, I would be on the next space shuttle to Mars or some other planet. I'll leave the calculations and the navigational tasks to you while I bask in your ingenuity. Find me a place in the capsule and watch me outdo Michael Jackson's moonwalk to the music of the spheres. Wole Soyinka watch-meingenuityfind-me 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. Wole Soyinka understandingcreativeculture I think I'm a very lazy writer and by that I mean that I do not battle, I don't struggle too hard against it. If I have difficulties in the writing, I just go and do other things. I don't feel a compulsion to write. Wole Soyinka strugglewritingmean As you get drawn more and more into other activities, like political activities, very demanding, you have to find different rhythms of writing; I think that's the word I'm looking for, rhythms of creativity which then, of course, become very intense. I think your writing then tends to be very intensified simply because there are other demands which seem equally important. Wole Soyinka creativitywritingthinking I think most writers would like a quiet space, complete isolation, in which they control their own time. Spaces of creativity in which there's very little interruption. Wole Soyinka creativityspacethinking Writers throughout the ages have one weapon, which is literature, but they also have their responsibilities as a citizen when literature does not seem to suffice. I mean, they are not mutually exclusive. One continues to write anyway but if you are called out to demonstrate, if people are being killed in the streets, it's hardly the moment to go for your pen and paper, you know, help in one way or the other. Wole Soyinka responsibilitywritingmean 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. The proof of that is the ability of a dictator to snuff out the life of a writer. Wole Soyinka literaturedoewriting For me, a writer is already being the deuce of his mission, his occupation to society. Wole Soyinka deucesmissionsoccupation My mind immediately shot to South Africa the moment I sat down to think what I was going to write, what I was going to say. There was no other choice. Wole Soyinka choiceswritingthinking I believe that prizes are useful things for the disciplines, whether we are talking about chemistry or we're talking... It motivates, it, you know, inspires, it encourages and it brings, in the case of literature, it brings literature, the arts out of the ghetto. Wole Soyinka ghettobelieveart To achieve any change in the minds of the youth, there must be reorientation in terms of materialistic tendencies, corruption and crime generally. Wole Soyinka materialisticyouthmind Under a dictatorship, a nation ceases to exist. All that remains is a fiefdom, a planet of slaves regimented by aliens from outer-space. Wole Soyinka slavespacealiens You go to conferences, and your fellow African intellectuals - and even heads of state - they all say: 'Nigeria is a big disappointment. It is the shame of the African continent.' Wole Soyinka shamestatesdisappointment It's my duty to fight those who have chosen to belong to the party of death, those who say they receive their orders from God somewhere and believe they have a duty to set the world on fire to achieve their own salvation. Wole Soyinka partyfightingbelieve Boko Haram represents the ultimate Fatwa of our time. The question is does the sect's Fatwa represent the articulated position of the majority of Muslims in this nation? My reading over the last few years is an unambiguous no. We are undergoing an affliction that many could not have imagined about a decade ago. Let us confront the ultimate horror now. To remain inactive at this moment is to betray our children and to consolidate the ongoing crimes against our humanity. We must take the battle to the enemy...We sent our children to school; we must bring them back to school. Wole Soyinka readingchildrenschool I am a glutton for tranquility. Wole Soyinka tranquility Well, first of all I'll say that I come alive best in theater. Wole Soyinka theateralivefirsts African film makers are scraping by on a mere pittance. Wole Soyinka merefilmmakers
