Top 25 Inspiring Wole Soyinka Quotes

Wole Soyinka is of Yoruba origin. He studied in Nigeria and England. After he attained his degree he decided to write plays that were introduced in both Nigeria and England. He also played an active role in the fight for independence in Nigeria. During the civil war in 1967, he was arrested by the federal government for two years.

Soyinka was a renowned professor in two countries. He taught comparative literature at Obafemi Awolowo University, formerly known as the University of Ife, Nigeria. Meanwhile, in the United States, he taught African studies and Theatre arts. He also taught at Oxford, Harvard, and Yale.

Soyinka was awarded the Europe Theatre Prize in December 2017. An award to someone who has “contributed to the realization of cultural events that promote understanding and the exchange of knowledge between peoples”.

Inspiring Wole Soyinka Quotes

“And I believe that the best learning process of any kind of craft is just to look at the work of others.” Wole Soyinka

“But the ultimate lesson is just sit down and write. That’s all.” Wole Soyinka

“Even when I’m writing plays I enjoy having company and mentally I think of that company as the company I’m writing for.” Wole Soyinka

“I consider the process of gestation just as important as when you’re actually sitting down putting words to the paper.” Wole Soyinka

“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.” Wole Soyinka

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“Books and all forms of writing are terror to those who wish to suppress the truth.” Wole Soyinka

“For me, justice is the prime condition of humanity.” Wole Soyinka Quotes

“The writer is the visionary of his people… He anticipates, he warns.” Wole Soyinka

“Power is domination, control, and therefore a very selective form of truth which is a lie.” Wole Soyinka

“There are different kinds of artists and very often, I’ll be very frank with you, I wish I were a different kind.” Wole Soyinka

“Very conscious of the fact that an effort was being made to destroy my mind, because I was deprived of books, deprived of any means of writing, deprived of human companionship. You never know how much you need it until you’re deprived of it.” Wole Soyinka

“Well, first of all I’ll say that I come alive best in theater.” Wole Soyinka

“The greatest threat to freedom is the absence of criticism.” Wole Soyinka

“Education is lacking in most of those who pontificate.” Wole Soyinka

“The scales of reckoning with mortality are never evenly weighted, alas, and thus it is on the shoulders of the living that the burden of justice must continue to rest.” Wole Soyinka

“Colonialism bred an innate arrogance, but when you undertake that sort of imperial adventure, that arrogance gives way to a feeling of accommodativeness. You take pride in your openness.” Wole Soyinka

“I grew up in an atmosphere where words were an integral part of culture.” Wole Soyinka

“I don’t really consider myself a novelist, it just came out purely by accident.” Wole Soyinka

“I think that feeling that if one believed absolutely in any cause, then one must have the confidence, the self-certainty, to go through with that particular course of action.” Wole Soyinka

“We Nigerians must reclaim our sovereignty, our civic entitlements.” Wole Soyinka

“The blatant aggressiveness of theocracies I find distressing, because I grew up when Christians, Muslim and animists lived peacefully together.” Wole Soyinka

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“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 family is all about.” Wole Soyinka Quotes

“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

“The man dies in all who keep silent in the face of tyranny.” Wole Soyinka

“Looking at faces of people, one gets the feeling there’s a lot of work to be done.” Wole Soyinka Quotes