We never think that our mothers will die. It was like suddenly an abyss opened at my feet - I was standing… — Ben Okri Copy Share Image
When I write a poem, I go into a state of self-forgetfulness, and something higher takes over; I like to call it… — Ben Okri Copy Share Image
I believe in leavening. You can't have words sticking out too much, like promontories. They disturb the density. You have to flatten… — Ben Okri Copy Share Image
The poem is never complete in the mind. It emerges, and then it's like an act of unveiling. The unveiling is the… — 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
