Wole Soyinka

Film & Theater Nigeria 1934 94 quotes

Nobel laureate of Death and the King's Horseman, Soyinka blended Yoruba tradition with quotable political satire.

Quotes by Wole Soyinka

The man dies in all who keep silent in the face of tyranny.

The Man Died: Prison Notes of Wole Soyinka 1972

A tiger does not proclaim its tigritude, it pounces.

Myth, Literature and the African World 1960

The greatest threat to freedom is the absence of criticism.

Interview

Power is a strange thing. It has a way of corrupting even the best of intentions.

Interview

The past is not a package to be discarded.

Myth, Literature and the African World 1976

Justice is the first condition of humanity.

Speech

The artist is the record of the world.

Interview

The greatest tragedy is not death, but life without purpose.

Speech

The world is too dangerous to live in – not because of the people who do evil, but because of the people who sit and let it happen.

Speech

Humanity is not a gift, it is a task.

Interview

The greatest weapon against injustice is to speak out.

Speech

The past is not dead, it is not even past.

Myth, Literature and the African World 1976

The artist has a responsibility to society.

Interview

The mind is a battlefield.

Interview

The truth is a weapon.

Speech

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.

Speech

The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.

Speech

The only way to do great work is to love what you do.

Speech

The unexamined life is not worth living.

Speech

The purpose of art is to wash the dust of daily life off our souls.

Interview