All Ben Okri Quotes
- Wholeness is the enemy of the artist. We ought to be broken, ruined in some way. Artist
- If we are true, if we can love, if we have vision, if we can have courage, we can, we should, we ought to, we… Courage
- Painters ought to be mute. Speech is the enemy of expression. Enemy
- There ought to be three traditions in the art of humanity: the realistic, the visionary and the wild. Art
- The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love and to be greater than our… Authentic
- The magician and the politician have much in common: they both have to draw our attention away from what they are really doing. Attention
- Don't despair too much if you see beautiful things destroyed, if you see them perish. Because the best things are always growing in secret. Always Growing
- Stories can conquer fear, you know. They can make the heart bigger. Bigger
- I learned that life will go through changes - up and down and up again. It's what life does. Changes
- 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 great,… Beautiful
- The fact of storytelling hints at a fundamental human unease, hints at human imperfection. Where there is perfection there is no story to tell. Fact
- I lived rough, by my wits, was homeless, lived on the streets, lived on friends' floors, was happy, was miserable. Floors
- The strange thing about Africa is how past, present and future come together in a kind of rough jazz, if you like. Africa
- 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. Absolutely
- To sustain your belief through situations that completely undermine it is quite something. Belief
- One of the greatest gifts my father gave me - unintentionally - was witnessing the courage with which he bore adversity. We had a bit… Adversity
- The acknowledged legislators of the world take the world as given. They dislike mysteries, for mysteries cannot be coded, or legislated, and wonder cannot be… Accepted
- I was born left-handed, but I was made to use my other hand. When I was writing 'Famished Road,' which was very long, I got… Born
- Reading, like writing, is a creative act. If readers only bring a narrow range of themselves to the book, then they'll only see their narrow… Act
- I was going to be a scientist. Funny
- I went to London because, for me, it was the home of literature. I went there because of Dickens and Shakespeare. Dickens
- The greatest religions convert the world through stories. Convert
- To anyone who is homeless, I say, find a home. Anyone
- We have fallen into this very mean description of humanity. Naturalism in fiction is too reductive in its definition of human beings. Beings
- I'm conscious of a series of circles working its way through my life. And at this particular moment I have come round to the beginning… Beginning