--- title: "17 Knows Quotes By Wole Soyinka" description: "17 Knows quotes by Wole Soyinka. Plus more from Wole Soyinka and more Knows sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e9c/wole-soyinka-1587_governance_governance-can-dig-itself-into-a-huge-ho_801377.jpg" --- > [Governance can dig itself into a huge hole and not even know it's in there.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/governance-can-dig-itself-into-a-huge-hole-and-not-even-know-it-s-in/) [Wole Soyinka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wole-soyinka/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e9c/wole-soyinka-1587_governance_governance-can-dig-itself-into-a-huge-ho_801377.jpg) > [Mythology can be used, and has been used, even to re-state, you know, the very urgent problems of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/mythology-can-be-used-and-has-been-used-even-to-re-state-you-know-the/) [Wole Soyinka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wole-soyinka/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/97e/wole-soyinka-1587_has-beens_mythology-can-be-used-and-has-been-used_2091033.jpg) > [I believe that prizes are useful things for the disciplines, whether we are talking about chemistry or we're talking... It motivates, it,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/i-believe-that-prizes-are-useful-things-for-the-disciplines-whether/) [Wole Soyinka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wole-soyinka/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3bf/wole-soyinka-1587_art_i-believe-that-prizes-are-useful-things_693108.jpg) > [I come alive when I have assisted in bringing out the printed word on the stage, you know, and I enjoy directing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/i-come-alive-when-i-have-assisted-in-bringing-out-the-printed-word-on/) [Wole Soyinka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wole-soyinka/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/978/wole-soyinka-1587_alive_i-come-alive-when-i-have-assisted-in-bri_2658413.jpg) > [Religion has really spawned some monsters. It always has, historically. Go all the way back to the Inquisition, you know, the Crusades,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/religion-has-really-spawned-some-monsters-it-always-has-historically/) [Wole Soyinka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wole-soyinka/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/629/wole-soyinka-1587_crusades_religion-has-really-spawned-some-monster_1281993.jpg) > [I don’t know any other way to live but to wake up everyday armed with my convictions, not yielding them to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/i-don-t-know-any-other-way-to-live-but-to-wake-up-everyday-armed-with/) [Wole Soyinka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wole-soyinka/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7a8/wole-soyinka-1587_conviction_i-don-t-know-any-other-way-to-live-but-t_2032007.jpg) > [Intolerance has always been with us, you know. The moment you have ideology, we have intolerance, whether it's the secular ideology or,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/intolerance-has-always-been-with-us-you-know-the-moment-you-have/) [Wole Soyinka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wole-soyinka/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d53/wole-soyinka-1587_ideology_intolerance-has-always-been-with-us-you_1788087.jpg) > [I said: "A tiger does not proclaim his tigritude, he pounces". In other words: a tiger does not stand in the forest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/i-said-a-tiger-does-not-proclaim-his-tigritude-he-pounces-in-other/) [Wole Soyinka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wole-soyinka/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eac/wole-soyinka-1587_doe_i-said-a-tiger-does-not-proclaim-his-tig_1174420.jpg) > [I know there are writers who get up every morning and sit by their typewriter or word processor or pad of paper…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/i-know-there-are-writers-who-get-up-every-morning-and-sit-by-their/) [Wole Soyinka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wole-soyinka/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fdf/wole-soyinka-1587_crafts_i-know-there-are-writers-who-get-up-ever_3045749.jpg) > [Writers throughout the ages have one weapon, which is literature, but they also have their responsibilities as a citizen when literature does…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/writers-throughout-the-ages-have-one-weapon-which-is-literature-but/) [Wole Soyinka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wole-soyinka/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a3/wole-soyinka-1587_age_writers-throughout-the-ages-have-one-wea_960071.jpg) > [With theatre, you can interpret the most complex play on stage for it have meaning to an audience because you're dealing in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/with-theatre-you-can-interpret-the-most-complex-play-on-stage-for-it/) [Wole Soyinka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wole-soyinka/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/26c/wole-soyinka-1587_action_with-theatre-you-can-interpret-the-most_2668989.jpg) > [I never know who's influencing me at any time. I mean, I can take a play by Brecht and adapt it, I'm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/i-never-know-who-s-influencing-me-at-any-time-i-mean-i-can-take-a/) [Wole Soyinka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wole-soyinka/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a66/wole-soyinka-1587_actor_i-never-know-who-s-influencing-me-at-any_2841070.jpg) > [We wasted a lot of creative energy in that immediate post colonial era, when there was a struggle between, you know, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/we-wasted-a-lot-of-creative-energy-in-that-immediate-post-colonial/) [Wole Soyinka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wole-soyinka/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b59/wole-soyinka-1587_capitalism_we-wasted-a-lot-of-creative-energy-in-th_71846.jpg) > [Everybody knows that fraternities are a normal culture in all colleges. It exists in all colleges. President Clinton was a member of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/everybody-knows-that-fraternities-are-a-normal-culture-in-all/) [Wole Soyinka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wole-soyinka/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f2c/wole-soyinka-1587_absolutely-nothing_everybody-knows-that-fraternities-are-a_2996916.jpg) > [I know there are other writers who sit down religiously every morning, they take their espresso, they put a clean sheet of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/i-know-there-are-other-writers-who-sit-down-religiously-every-morning/) [Wole Soyinka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wole-soyinka/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/00b/wole-soyinka-1587_clean_i-know-there-are-other-writers-who-sit-d_550321.jpg) > [The very function of creativity, of the elaboration of the human condition only enlarges the human spirit and, I mean, as a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/the-very-function-of-creativity-of-the-elaboration-of-the-human/) [Wole Soyinka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wole-soyinka/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/100/wole-soyinka-1587_boring_the-very-function-of-creativity-of-the-e_1587688.jpg) > [The gods in Yoruba mythology are not remote at all. They're benign, they're malign, they are mischievous, like Eshu for instance, tricksters,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/the-gods-in-yoruba-mythology-are-not-remote-at-all-they-re-benign/) [Wole Soyinka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wole-soyinka/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f22/wole-soyinka-1587_benevolent_the-gods-in-yoruba-mythology-are-not-rem_886124.jpg) ## Other authors on Knows ## More by Wole Soyinka > [Writers and intellectuals have a duty to humanity. It is to insist that the human entity remains the primary asset in overall development; thus,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/writers-and-intellectuals-have-a-duty-to-humanity-it-is-to-insist/) [Wole Soyinka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wole-soyinka/) > [When I tried to create a new political party, which I stressed that this is not my party. I believe very much that there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/when-i-tried-to-create-a-new-political-party-which-i-stressed-that/) [Wole Soyinka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wole-soyinka/) > [Each time I think I've created time for myself, along comes a throwback to disrupt my private space.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/each-time-i-think-i-ve-created-time-for-myself-along-comes-a/) [Wole Soyinka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wole-soyinka/) > [I began writing early - very, very early... I was already writing short stories for the radio and selling poems to poetry and art…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/i-began-writing-early-very-very-early-i-was-already-writing-short/) [Wole Soyinka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/my-horizon-on-humanity-is-enlarged-by-reading-the-writers-of-poems/) [Wole Soyinka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wole-soyinka/) > [Under a dictatorship, a nation ceases to exist. All that remains is a fiefdom, a planet of slaves regimented by aliens from outer-space.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/under-a-dictatorship-a-nation-ceases-to-exist-all-that-remains-is-a/) [Wole Soyinka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wole-soyinka/) > [The phenomenon of creativity, we know, is closely related to the ability to yoke together separate, and even seemingly incompatible, matrices.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/the-phenomenon-of-creativity-we-know-is-closely-related-to-the/) [Wole Soyinka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wole-soyinka/) > [One, a mass movement from within, which, as you know, is constantly being put down brutally but which, again, regroups and moves forward as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/one-a-mass-movement-from-within-which-as-you-know-is-constantly-being/) [Wole Soyinka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wole-soyinka/) > [One has to confront history honestly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/one-has-to-confront-history-honestly/) [Wole Soyinka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wole-soyinka/) > [We wasted a lot of creative energy in that immediate post colonial era, when there was a struggle between, you know, the Cold War…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/we-wasted-a-lot-of-creative-energy-in-that-immediate-post-colonial/) [Wole Soyinka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wole-soyinka/) > [I have a kind of magnetic attraction to situations of violence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/i-have-a-kind-of-magnetic-attraction-to-situations-of-violence/) [Wole Soyinka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wole-soyinka/) > [The Egba kingdom was one of the very last to be ceded to the British protectorate. It remained almost an independent entity within what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/the-egba-kingdom-was-one-of-the-very-last-to-be-ceded-to-the-british/) [Wole Soyinka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wole-soyinka/) > [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/one-s-own-self-worth-is-tied-to-the-worth-of-the-community-to-which/) [Wole Soyinka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wole-soyinka/) > [I was born into a Christian household, in a parsonage in fact, so I grew up in sort of a missionary atmosphere but it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/i-was-born-into-a-christian-household-in-a-parsonage-in-fact-so-i/) [Wole Soyinka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wole-soyinka/) > [The problem with literature, with writing, is that it works sometimes in terms of correction of social ills. Other times, it just does not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/the-problem-with-literature-with-writing-is-that-it-works-sometimes/) [Wole Soyinka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wole-soyinka/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knows/wole-soyinka/#itemlist", "name": "17 Knows Quotes By Wole Soyinka", "numberOfItems": 17, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Governance can dig itself into a huge hole and not even know it's in there.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wole Soyinka" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/governance-can-dig-itself-into-a-huge-hole-and-not-even-know-it-s-in/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e9c/wole-soyinka-1587_governance_governance-can-dig-itself-into-a-huge-ho_801377.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e9c/wole-soyinka-1587_governance_governance-can-dig-itself-into-a-huge-ho_801377.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e9c/wole-soyinka-1587_governance_governance-can-dig-itself-into-a-huge-ho_801377.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Governance can dig itself into a huge hole and not even know it's in there.” — Wole Soyinka", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Mythology can be used, and has been used, even to re-state, you know, the very urgent problems of the world.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wole Soyinka" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/mythology-can-be-used-and-has-been-used-even-to-re-state-you-know-the/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/97e/wole-soyinka-1587_has-beens_mythology-can-be-used-and-has-been-used_2091033.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/97e/wole-soyinka-1587_has-beens_mythology-can-be-used-and-has-been-used_2091033.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/97e/wole-soyinka-1587_has-beens_mythology-can-be-used-and-has-been-used_2091033.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Mythology can be used, and has been used, even to re-state, you know, the very urgent problems of the world.” — Wole Soyinka", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I believe that prizes are useful things for the disciplines, whether we are talking about chemistry or we're talking... It motivates, it, you know, inspires, it encourages and it brings, in the case of literature, it brings literature, the arts out of the ghetto.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wole Soyinka" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/i-believe-that-prizes-are-useful-things-for-the-disciplines-whether/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3bf/wole-soyinka-1587_art_i-believe-that-prizes-are-useful-things_693108.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3bf/wole-soyinka-1587_art_i-believe-that-prizes-are-useful-things_693108.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3bf/wole-soyinka-1587_art_i-believe-that-prizes-are-useful-things_693108.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I believe that prizes are useful things for the disciplines, whether we are talking about chemistry or we're…” — Wole Soyinka", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I come alive when I have assisted in bringing out the printed word on the stage, you know, and I enjoy directing plays. It's a tactile process, theatre, unlike a number of other forms of the creative work.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wole Soyinka" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/i-come-alive-when-i-have-assisted-in-bringing-out-the-printed-word-on/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/978/wole-soyinka-1587_alive_i-come-alive-when-i-have-assisted-in-bri_2658413.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/978/wole-soyinka-1587_alive_i-come-alive-when-i-have-assisted-in-bri_2658413.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/978/wole-soyinka-1587_alive_i-come-alive-when-i-have-assisted-in-bri_2658413.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I come alive when I have assisted in bringing out the printed word on the stage, you know, and I enjoy…” — Wole Soyinka", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Religion has really spawned some monsters. It always has, historically. Go all the way back to the Inquisition, you know, the Crusades, the Jehad and so on.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wole Soyinka" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/religion-has-really-spawned-some-monsters-it-always-has-historically/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/629/wole-soyinka-1587_crusades_religion-has-really-spawned-some-monster_1281993.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/629/wole-soyinka-1587_crusades_religion-has-really-spawned-some-monster_1281993.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/629/wole-soyinka-1587_crusades_religion-has-really-spawned-some-monster_1281993.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Religion has really spawned some monsters. It always has, historically. 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The moment you have ideology, we have intolerance, whether it's the secular ideology or, you know ideocratic ideology, which always brings with it some kind of intolerance.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wole Soyinka" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/intolerance-has-always-been-with-us-you-know-the-moment-you-have/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d53/wole-soyinka-1587_ideology_intolerance-has-always-been-with-us-you_1788087.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d53/wole-soyinka-1587_ideology_intolerance-has-always-been-with-us-you_1788087.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d53/wole-soyinka-1587_ideology_intolerance-has-always-been-with-us-you_1788087.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Intolerance has always been with us, you know. The moment you have ideology, we have intolerance, whether…” — Wole Soyinka", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 8, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I said: \"A tiger does not proclaim his tigritude, he pounces\". In other words: a tiger does not stand in the forest and say: \"I am a tiger\". When you pass where the tiger has walked before, you see the skeleton of the duiker, you know that some tigritude has been emanated there.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wole Soyinka" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/i-said-a-tiger-does-not-proclaim-his-tigritude-he-pounces-in-other/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eac/wole-soyinka-1587_doe_i-said-a-tiger-does-not-proclaim-his-tig_1174420.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eac/wole-soyinka-1587_doe_i-said-a-tiger-does-not-proclaim-his-tig_1174420.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eac/wole-soyinka-1587_doe_i-said-a-tiger-does-not-proclaim-his-tig_1174420.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I said: \"A tiger does not proclaim his tigritude, he pounces\". 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I go through a long period of gestation before I'm even ready to write.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wole Soyinka" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/i-know-there-are-writers-who-get-up-every-morning-and-sit-by-their/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fdf/wole-soyinka-1587_crafts_i-know-there-are-writers-who-get-up-ever_3045749.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fdf/wole-soyinka-1587_crafts_i-know-there-are-writers-who-get-up-ever_3045749.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fdf/wole-soyinka-1587_crafts_i-know-there-are-writers-who-get-up-ever_3045749.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I know there are writers who get up every morning and sit by their typewriter or word processor or pad of…” — Wole Soyinka", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 10, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Writers throughout the ages have one weapon, which is literature, but they also have their responsibilities as a citizen when literature does not seem to suffice. I mean, they are not mutually exclusive. One continues to write anyway but if you are called out to demonstrate, if people are being killed in the streets, it's hardly the moment to go for your pen and paper, you know, help in one way or the other.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wole Soyinka" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/writers-throughout-the-ages-have-one-weapon-which-is-literature-but/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a3/wole-soyinka-1587_age_writers-throughout-the-ages-have-one-wea_960071.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a3/wole-soyinka-1587_age_writers-throughout-the-ages-have-one-wea_960071.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a3/wole-soyinka-1587_age_writers-throughout-the-ages-have-one-wea_960071.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Writers throughout the ages have one weapon, which is literature, but they also have their responsibilities…” — Wole Soyinka", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 11, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "With theatre, you can interpret the most complex play on stage for it have meaning to an audience because you're dealing in images, you're dealing in action, you can use different idioms to interpret and clarify something which is obscured in the reading and of course there are different kinds of play, there are mythological plays, there are what I call the dramatic sketches, direct political theatre which is virtually everybody, but I find that you can use the stage as a social vehicle, you know, which any kind of audience.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wole Soyinka" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/with-theatre-you-can-interpret-the-most-complex-play-on-stage-for-it/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/26c/wole-soyinka-1587_action_with-theatre-you-can-interpret-the-most_2668989.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/26c/wole-soyinka-1587_action_with-theatre-you-can-interpret-the-most_2668989.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/26c/wole-soyinka-1587_action_with-theatre-you-can-interpret-the-most_2668989.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“With theatre, you can interpret the most complex play on stage for it have meaning to an audience because…” — Wole Soyinka", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 12, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I never know who's influencing me at any time. I mean, I can take a play by Brecht and adapt it, I'm consciously adapting that play, or, as I've done with the Greek classics, Euripides and Oedipus, and I'm consciously adapting that play. Whether it influences me or not, I think it's the critics, the analysts who have to decide that. Me, I don't feel that I'm under the influence of any such sources.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wole Soyinka" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/i-never-know-who-s-influencing-me-at-any-time-i-mean-i-can-take-a/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a66/wole-soyinka-1587_actor_i-never-know-who-s-influencing-me-at-any_2841070.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a66/wole-soyinka-1587_actor_i-never-know-who-s-influencing-me-at-any_2841070.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a66/wole-soyinka-1587_actor_i-never-know-who-s-influencing-me-at-any_2841070.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I never know who's influencing me at any time. 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Many writers just wasted their energy and their talent because they want to be ideologically correct and of course all they produced was propaganda.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wole Soyinka" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/we-wasted-a-lot-of-creative-energy-in-that-immediate-post-colonial/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b59/wole-soyinka-1587_capitalism_we-wasted-a-lot-of-creative-energy-in-th_71846.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b59/wole-soyinka-1587_capitalism_we-wasted-a-lot-of-creative-energy-in-th_71846.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b59/wole-soyinka-1587_capitalism_we-wasted-a-lot-of-creative-energy-in-th_71846.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“We wasted a lot of creative energy in that immediate post colonial era, when there was a struggle between…” — Wole Soyinka", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 14, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Everybody knows that fraternities are a normal culture in all colleges. It exists in all colleges. President Clinton was a member of a fraternity. In fact, anybody who goes to College in the United States is a member of a College fraternity. There is absolutely nothing evil or occultic about fraternity.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wole Soyinka" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/everybody-knows-that-fraternities-are-a-normal-culture-in-all/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f2c/wole-soyinka-1587_absolutely-nothing_everybody-knows-that-fraternities-are-a_2996916.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f2c/wole-soyinka-1587_absolutely-nothing_everybody-knows-that-fraternities-are-a_2996916.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f2c/wole-soyinka-1587_absolutely-nothing_everybody-knows-that-fraternities-are-a_2996916.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Everybody knows that fraternities are a normal culture in all colleges. It exists in all colleges. President…” — Wole Soyinka", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 15, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I know there are other writers who sit down religiously every morning, they take their espresso, they put a clean sheet of paper there and they sit looking at that paper until they've finished or covered at least a number of those pages. No, I'm not like that. I have to be ready. 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It would be terribly boring and, you know, abrasive, but just reading the insights, you know, partaking of the insights of a writer into phenomena, into society, into human relationships, both on a micro level and on a macro level, is already a function.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wole Soyinka" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/the-very-function-of-creativity-of-the-elaboration-of-the-human/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/100/wole-soyinka-1587_boring_the-very-function-of-creativity-of-the-e_1587688.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/100/wole-soyinka-1587_boring_the-very-function-of-creativity-of-the-e_1587688.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/100/wole-soyinka-1587_boring_the-very-function-of-creativity-of-the-e_1587688.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The very function of creativity, of the elaboration of the human condition only enlarges the human spirit…” — Wole Soyinka", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 17, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The gods in Yoruba mythology are not remote at all. They're benign, they're malign, they are mischievous, like Eshu for instance, tricksters, rascally, fornicators, that's a similarity to Greek mythology, for instance, you know. They're not saints, they're not saints. They're powerful. It's why they're not tyrannical. Of course, a number of them are also very, you know, benevolent, you know, there are saintly virtues to be found in them.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wole Soyinka" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/the-gods-in-yoruba-mythology-are-not-remote-at-all-they-re-benign/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f22/wole-soyinka-1587_benevolent_the-gods-in-yoruba-mythology-are-not-rem_886124.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f22/wole-soyinka-1587_benevolent_the-gods-in-yoruba-mythology-are-not-rem_886124.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f22/wole-soyinka-1587_benevolent_the-gods-in-yoruba-mythology-are-not-rem_886124.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The gods in Yoruba mythology are not remote at all. They're benign, they're malign, they are mischievous…” — Wole Soyinka", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knows/wole-soyinka/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knows/wole-soyinka/", "name": "Knows Quotes by Wole Soyinka", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knows/wole-soyinka/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e9c/wole-soyinka-1587_governance_governance-can-dig-itself-into-a-huge-ho_801377.jpg" }, "description": "17 Knows quotes by Wole Soyinka. 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