Quotesia
Home
Authors
Popular authors
Franz Kafka
Charlotte Whitton
Chen Shui-bian
Thomas Jefferson
Stephen Jay Gould
R. Buckminster Fuller
All authors
Today's birthdays
1780 - Carl von Clausewitz
1926 - Marilyn Monroe
1977 - Danielle Harris
1937 - Morgan Freeman
1969 - Teri Polo
1948 - Powers Boothe
Today's birthdays
Popular professions
Businessman
Author
Clergyman
Chef
Artist
Philosopher
All professions
Authors by letter
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
All authors
Topics
Top Quotes
Quotesia
Favorite authors
Wole Soyinka Quotes
Wole Soyinka Quotes
Wole Soyinka
Nigerian
Dramatist
Born:
Jul 13
,
1934
Me
Think
Time
World
Writing
You
Related authors:
Anton Chekhov
David Mamet
Friedrich Schiller
George Bernard Shaw
Oscar Wilde
Tennessee Williams
William Shakespeare
Zora Neale Hurston
I don't really consider myself a novelist, it just came out purely by accident.
Wole Soyinka
Myself
Accident
Consider
Out
Purely
Came
Just
Really
Novelist
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
Depression
Future
Me
Every
Others
Meet
Mine
Way
Bit
Out
Seek
About
Come
Talk
Felt
Were
Left
Same
Pessimism
Who
Found
Acute
I grew up in an atmosphere where words were an integral part of culture.
Wole Soyinka
Culture
Communication
Words
Atmosphere
Part
Integral
Were
Integral Part
Up
Where
Grew
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
Morning
Writing
Typewriter
Paper
Machine
Those
About
Writers
Never
Put
Piece
Learned
Understood
Up
Get
Who
Start
One thing I can tell you is this, that I am not a methodical writer.
Wole Soyinka
You
Tell
One Thing
Writer
Am
Methodical
Thing
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
Nature
Quality
First
Relation
Kind
About
Environment
First Of All
Audience
Itself
Being
Staged
Dynamic
Which
Theater
Then
Expresses
Well, first of all I'll say that I come alive best in theater.
Wole Soyinka
Best
First
Say
Alive
Come
First Of All
Well
Theater
Looking at faces of people, one gets the feeling there's a lot of work to be done.
Wole Soyinka
Work
People
Feeling
Looking
Faces
Lot
Gets
Done
African film makers are scraping by on a mere pittance.
Wole Soyinka
Mere
Makers
Scraping
African
Film
Film-Makers
In Africa, those who have money - businessmen and banks - do not believe in film.
Wole Soyinka
Money
Believe
Those
Africa
Banks
Who
Businessmen
Film
Rwanda, which is one of the younger independent states in Africa, must be regarded as a model of how great human trauma can be transformed to commence true reconstruction of people. Human trauma can lead to stunted growth and mass withdrawal.
Wole Soyinka
Great
People
States
Independent
Must
Reconstruction
Lead
True
Mass
Stunted
Withdrawal
How
Commence
Model
Human
Africa
Regarded
Which
Transformed
Younger
Trauma
Growth
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
Me
Property
World
Walk
Black
First
Lost
Few
Considered
Laureate
London
Paris
Remaining
Nobel
Anonymity
Without
Yards
Personal
Stopped
African
Being
Even
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
Somewhere
Stage
Think
Air
Later
Out
Seeing
Write
Shapes
Written
Abstract
Piece
Interaction
Literary
Forth
Floating
Actor
Ever
Play
Plays
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
You
Human Being
Citizen
Before
Weapons
Writer
Human
Being
Use
Your
Therefore
Disposal
Some people think the Nobel Prize makes you bullet-proof. I never had that illusion.
Wole Soyinka
You
People
Illusion
Some People
Think
Some
Never
Had
Nobel
Nobel Prize
Makes
Prize
An excessive amount of my time is taken with political involvement. It's unavoidable; that's my temperament.
Wole Soyinka
Time
Political
Temperament
Unavoidable
My Time
Excessive
Taken
Involvement
Amount
You always assume for some strange reason that you need three meals a day.
Wole Soyinka
Day
You
Strange
Three
Assume
Some
Always
Meals
Reason
Need
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
Communicate
Unacceptable
Part
Message
Sure
Trying
Just
Movement
Away
Present
The Lagos of my childhood was a well-laid-out maritime city.
Wole Soyinka
Maritime
City
Childhood
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
Humanity
Insist
Duty
Must
Entity
Remains
Writers
Primary
Development
Thus
Overall
Intellectuals
Human
Asset
Politics, I believe, is a full-time occupation.
Wole Soyinka
Politics
Believe
Occupation
Full-Time
My father was a schoolteacher, and so I had the advantage of both western educational instruction in the school, as well as what you might call the process of imbibing the traditional processes of education instruction around me.
Wole Soyinka
Education
Me
You
School
Father
Both
Had
Advantage
Instruction
Schoolteacher
Well
Call
Around
Traditional
Educational
Western
Process
Processes
Might
Military dictatorship, you can focus on it, you can fight it directly. It's a band of power-driven people.
Wole Soyinka
You
Fight
People
Dictatorship
Focus
Band
Military
Directly
Writing in certain environments carries with it an occupational risk.
Wole Soyinka
Writing
Carries
Risk
Environments
Occupational
Certain
Probably to me the greatest singer, female voice, is Billie Holiday. And one of the most moving for me, I don't know why - maybe it's nostalgia, maybe because my life is one of constant partying, whatever.
Wole Soyinka
Life
Me
My Life
Whatever
Constant
Voice
Know
Most
Singer
Because
Female
Partying
Greatest
Maybe
Nostalgia
Holiday
Moving
Billie Holiday
Why
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.
Wole Soyinka
Government
Time
World
Has-Been
Cleansing
Particular
Mission
Conclude
Been
Africa
Order
Ethnic
Games
Union
Sudan
Playing
Playing Games
Load more quotes
No more Wole Soyinka quotes
Haven't find the right quote? Try quotes from authors related to Wole Soyinka.
Anton Chekhov
David Mamet
Friedrich Schiller
George Bernard Shaw