There ought to be three traditions in the art of humanity: the realistic, the visionary and the wild. — Ben Okri Copy Share Image
Wholeness is the enemy of the artist. We ought to be broken, ruined in some way. — Ben Okri Copy Share Image
The higher the artist, the fewer the gestures. The fewer the tools, the greater the imagination. The greater the will, the greater… — Ben Okri Copy Share Image
Artists and writers have to deal with the element that makes the real real and the dream real while you are dreaming… — Ben Okri Copy Share Image
Yes, the highest things are beyond words. That is probably why all art aspires to the condition of wordlessness. When literature works… — Ben Okri Copy Share Image
Politics is the art of the possible; creativity is the art of the impossible. — Ben Okri Copy Share Image
To poison a nation, poison its stories. A demoralised nation tells demoralised stories to itself. Beware of the storytellers who are not… — Ben Okri Copy Share Image
We never think that our mothers will die. It was like suddenly an abyss opened at my feet - I was standing on nothing.… — Ben Okri Copy Share Image
“In a fractured age, when cynicism is god, here is a possible heresy: we live by stories, we also live in them. One way… — Ben Okri Copy Share Image
The best writing is not about the writer, the best writing is absolutely not about the writer, it's about us, it's about the reader. — Ben Okri Copy Share Image
Maybe there are only three kinds of stories: those we live, those we tell, and those that help our souls fly upwards to a… — Ben Okri Copy Share Image
The earliest storytellers were magi, seers, bards, griots, shamans. They were, it would seem, old as time, and as terrifying to gaze upon as… — Ben Okri Copy Share Image
The strange thing about Africa is how past, present and future come together in a kind of rough jazz, if you like. — Ben Okri Copy Share Image
Our time here is magic! It's the only space you have to realize whatever it is that is beautiful, whatever is true, whatever is… — Ben Okri Copy Share Image
Fire is one of my temperaments. It is behind all my work... Fire is a chemical presence. — Ben Okri Copy Share Image
I lived rough, by my wits, was homeless, lived on the streets, lived on friends' floors, was happy, was miserable. — Ben Okri Copy Share Image
If we could be pure dancers in spirit we would never be afraid to love, and we would love with strength and wisdom. — Ben Okri Copy Share Image
Without stories we would go mad. Life would lose its moorings or lose its orientations. even in silence we are living our stories — Ben Okri Copy Share Image
