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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.

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
Petroleum
Without
Country
Smelled
Never
Nigeria
Would
Wished
Highly
Oil
Developed
Fumes
Convinced

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A human feast is an indifferent morsel to a god.
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When you start a political party, you are creating space for yourself. So many people were shocked when they realized that I was serious and had no interest in occupying any political position, so they started to fall out one by one.
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My horizon on humanity is enlarged by reading the writers of poems, seeing a painting, listening to some music, some opera, which has nothing at all to do with a volatile human condition or struggle or whatever. It enriches me as a human being.
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I can look violence in the face and either reject or accept it.
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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 disengagement. Did the military truly disengage, however? No.
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Don't take shadows too seriously. Reality is your only safety. Continue to reject illusion.
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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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But theater, because of its nature, both text, images, multimedia effects, has a wider base of communication with an audience. That's why I call it the most social of the various art forms.
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If man cannot, what god dare claim perfection?
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It's the place to begin, always -- to return to home, literally.
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I consider the process of gestation just as important as when you're actually sitting down putting words to the paper.
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