Don't take shadows too seriously. Reality is your only safety. Continue to reject illusion.
Wole SoyinkaRead
I'm not sure I'm trying to communicate a message. I'm just trying to be part of the movement away from the unacceptable present.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote expresses a desire to move towards a better future rather than convey a specific message.
Wole Soyinka reflects on his engagement with societal change, indicating that his primary focus is not on delivering a specific message but rather on participating in the collective effort to transform an unacceptable present reality. He implies that the act of involvement in social movements is crucial to instigating meaningful change, suggesting that sometimes the act of being part of a movement speaks louder than words.
Themes
ChangeMovementActivismParticipationSociety
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about social justice, one might quote this to emphasize the importance of collective action.
More from Wole Soyinka
All quotes βTrading and religion have always been aligned together in the history of the world, and especially on the African continent.
Wole SoyinkaRead
A war, with its attendant human suffering, must, when that evil is unavoidable, be made to fragment more than buildings: It must shatter the foundations of thought and re-create. Only in this way does every individual share in the cataclysm and understand the purpose of sacrifice.
Wole SoyinkaRead
Rwanda, which is one of the younger independent states in Africa, must be regarded as a model of how great human trauma can be transformed to commence true reconstruction of people. Human trauma can lead to stunted growth and mass withdrawal.
Wole SoyinkaRead
I have a kind of magnetic attraction to situations of violence.
Wole SoyinkaRead
Art is solace; art is vision, and when I pick up a literary work, I am a consumer of literature for its own sake.
Wole SoyinkaRead
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We shall strike. We shall organize boycotts. We shall demonstrate and have political campaigns. We shall pursue the revolution we have proposed. We are sons and daughters of the farm workers' revolution, a revolution of the poor seeking bread and justice.
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To get away from one's working environment is, in a sense, to get away from one's self; and this is often the chief advantage of travel and change.
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If you would one day renovate yourself, do so from day to day.
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We've become a nation of indoor cats, he'd said. A nation of doubters, worriers, overthinkers. Thank God these weren't the kind of Americans who settled this country. They were a different breed! They crossed the country in wagons with wooden wheels! People croaked along the way, and they barely stopped. Back then, you buried your dead and kept moving.
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In times of rapid change, experience could be your worst enemy.
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