Quotes by Wole Soyinka

About Wole Soyinka:

Akinwande Oluwole "Wole" Babatunde Soyinka is a Nigerian playwright and poet. He was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature, the first African to be honored in that category.
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

Trading and religion have always been aligned together in the history of the world, and especially on the African continent.

Wole Soyinka

After the death of the sadistic dictator Gen. Sanni Abacha in 1998, Nigeria underwent a one-year transitional military administration headed by Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, who uncharacteristically bowed out precisely on the promised date for military ...

Wole Soyinka

I cannot belong to a nation which permits such barbarities as stoning to death and amputation - I don't care what religion it is.

Wole Soyinka

Education is lacking in most of those who pontificate.

Wole Soyinka

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

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 boul...

Wole Soyinka

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

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 fa...

Wole Soyinka

I take friendship very seriously.

Wole Soyinka

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

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

Wole Soyinka

You cannot live a normal existence if you haven't taken care of a problem that affects your life and affects the lives of others, values that you hold which in fact define your very existence.

Wole Soyinka

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

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

Wole Soyinka

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

Wole Soyinka

One has a responsibility to clean up one's space and make it livable as far as one's own resources go. That includes not only material resources, but psychological resources: the commitment of time and a portion of your mind to something when you'd r...

Wole Soyinka

I ceased using words like optimism and pessimism a long time ago.

Wole Soyinka

I like to say, 'I spend one-third of my time in Nigeria, one-third in Europe or America, and one-third on a plane.'

Wole Soyinka

I've done a lot of guerrilla theater in my time.

Wole Soyinka

An excessive amount of my time is taken with political involvement. It's unavoidable; that's my temperament.

Wole Soyinka

In Africa, those who have money - businessmen and banks - do not believe in film.

Wole Soyinka

Author Bio

  • NameWole Soyinka
  • DescriptionNigerian writer
  • AliasesAkinwande Oluwole Soyinka
  • BornJuly 13, 1934
  • CountryNigeria
  • ProfessionPlaywright; Poet; Writer; Novelist; Philosopher; Essayist
  • AwardsNobel Prize In Literature