Wednesday, 13 July 2016

Wole Soyinka Celebrates His 82nd Birthday Today

HAppy Birthday Prof.

"Well, some people say I'm pessimistic because I

recognize the eternal cycle of evil. All I say is,

look at the history of mankind right up to this

moment and what do you find?"

"Romance is the sweetening of the soul, With

fragrance offered by the stricken heart."

"See, even despite pious statements to the

contrary, much of the industrialized world has

not yet come to terms with the recognition of

the fallacy of what I call the strong man

syndrome."

"Human life has meaning only to that degree and

as long as it is lived in the service of humanity."

"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."

"African film makers are scraping by on a mere

pittance."

"We live in a materialist world, and materialism

appeals so strongly to humanity, no matter

where."

"Seven is the magic figure, because that's a

symbolic figure of my favorite deity, Ogun."

"For me, justice is the prime condition of

humanity."

"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."

"I don't know any other way to live but to wake

up every day armed with my convictions, not

yielding them to the threat of danger and to the

power and force of people who might despise

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