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Some of us – poets are not exactly poets. We live sometimes – beyond the word.

Wole Soyinka

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Wole Soyinka
Age: 90
Born: 1934
Born: July 13
Author
Essayist
Novelist
Philosopher
Playwright
Poet
Professor
Translator
Writer
Akinwande Oluwole Soyinka
Akinwande Oluwole Wole Soyinka
Live
Sometimes
Poets
Exactly
Poet
Beyond
Word

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I believe that each writer must decide in which language he or she is most comfortable.
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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.
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Looking at faces of people, one gets the feeling there's a lot of work to be done.
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The greatest threat to freedom is the absence of criticism.
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The hand that dips into the bottom of the pot will eat the biggest snail.
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We live in a materialist world, and materialism appeals so strongly to humanity, no matter where.
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A human feast is an indifferent morsel to a god.
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We do not ask the mountain's aid to crack a walnut.
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Each time I think Ive created time for myself, along comes a throwback to disrupt my private space.
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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.
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Obasanjo has openly endorsed violence as a means of governance, embraced and empowered individuals whose avowed declarations, confessions and acts are cynically contrary to the mandate that alone upholds the legitimacy and dignity of his office.
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Alfred Nobel regretted that his invention, dynamite, was converted to degrading use, hence his creation of the Nobel Prize, as the humanist counter to the destructive power of his genius.
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How do I feel when I am invited to a congregation of scientists? I feel quite at home. When they break into their cultic scientific argot, I know when I'm not wanted and step out for a drink.
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We live in the real world - we live within a certain history of the plague that has landed on us.
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Writers - human. I shudder to think how I must sometimes appear to others.
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It is the human potentials that interest me. I travel and everywhere I go I am amazed at the presence of Nigerians. The intelligence, integrity, productivity, initiative.
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The idea of having to make constant reference to politics is anathema to my calling as a writer.
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The British inclined more towards the feudal mentality, the feudal structures rather than the more radical progressive elements who would re-shape society and institute pretty egalitarian systems of governance with opportunity for even disadvantaged people and so I found that decolonisation was not just the end of political struggle in Nigeria.
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There's something about the theater which makes my fingertips tingle.
Wole Soyinka
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There's a lot of insincerity about the actions of our legislators they create distractions - like this anti-gay law you alluded to - and try to mobilise, to exacerbate people's emotions. Until the legislators started making laws, people minded, generally, their own business.
Wole Soyinka