Ben Okri Quotes

When I write a poem, I go into a state of self-forgetfulness, and something higher takes over; I like to call it my best self.

Ben Okri

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Quotes to Explore

• I would say that my fatal flaw, as a human being, is that I need people to like me, and if they don't like me, I will obsess over it - and try to change my personality until they like me - even if they don't like me for reasons that have nothing to do with me, and even if they're strangers.

  

  Damon Lindelof
  • People
  • Change
  • Personality

• Lately I've been feeling like 50 percent of the great content I read comes from Twitter conversations.

  

  Cameron Russell
  • Great
  • Feeling
  • Content

• Often people would mistake me for white when I was younger, and I didn't correct them; there would be a period of time that they just thought I was.

  

  Natasha Trethewey
  • People
  • Time
  • Mistake

• The democratic system is challenged by the failure in television because our evening news programmes have gone for an attempt to entertain as much as to inform in the desperate fight for ratings.

  

  Walter Cronkite
  • Failure
  • Fight
  • Television

• With cult foods, there is an underlying assumption that the best cooking ideas came generations ago. Yet culinary innovation is nothing to be ashamed of. When a chef tells me he is cooking with his grandmother's recipe, I always wonder why. Did talent skip the past two generations?

  

  Nathan Myhrvold
  • Why
  • Past
  • Best

• They call David O. Russell the actor whisperer because he can get stuff out of actors that maybe some other directors can't.

  

  Jacki Weaver
  • Actor
  • Call
  • Maybe

• Humor can bring people under the tent. And a good joke can deflect some of the intensity surrounding a serious subject.

  

  Ted Danson
  • People
  • Good
  • Serious

• I have the reputation of being easygoing. But inside, I'm like nails. I will kill.

  

  Calvin Klein
  • Like
  • Reputation
  • Inside

• Tell me, I forget, show me, I remember, involve me, I understand.

  

  Carl Orff
  • Remember
  • Me
  • Understand

• I don't think I am that tough, actually. Well, tough in the sense that I don't take any rubbish, and that doesn't make me very popular, frankly. I mean, because some people say something to me, and I just tell them off. I mean, why should I put up with it?

  

  Zaha Hadid
  • Popular
  • Tough
  • Frankly

• I honestly believe that history will be kinder to me than the contemporary media, or for that matter, the Opposition parties in Parliament.

  

  Manmohan Singh
  • Believe
  • History

• Mother, mother There's too many of you crying. Brother, brother, brother There's far too many of you dying. You know we've got to find a way To bring some lovin' here today.

  

  Marvin Gaye
  • Mother
  • Today
  • Brother

• This is just what human beings do-turn objects into people, people into objects. Back and forth. Tit for tat.

  

  Chuck Palahniuk
  • People

• As a guest, Emily Price had three main drawbacks: she was incapable of saying please, incapable of saying thank you and incapable of saying sorry, all the while creating a surge in the demand for these expressions.

  

  Edward St Aubyn
  • She
  • Sorry

• I've never moved. I've never ever wanted to.

  

  Mick Jones The Clash

• I like to joke that if I had a dollar for everybody who slapped me on the back and said, 'Hey Jeb, you're all set,' I'd be retired now.

  

  Jeb Bradley

• I listened to a lot of Amy Winehouse: her albums 'Frank' and 'Back to Black'. She was such an incredible artist. She was just so raw and had her unique sound; she paired jazz with pop and was so soulful at the same time. So I pulled from her a lot in the beginning.

  

  Grace Martine Tandon
  • Time
  • She
  • Black

• And innovation and entrepreneurship is the opportunity and best opportunity we have to grow the economy.

  

  Jerry Moran
  • Opportunity
  • Innovation

• Surprisingly, it was not an American but a British company that opened an amusement park in 2007 called Dickens World, located in the English county of Kent, complete with an Ebenezer Scrooge Haunted House, a Great Expectations Boat Ride and the as-advertised 'costumed Dickensian characters.'

  

  Matthew Pearl
  • World
  • Great
  • American

• 'When we inherit stolen wealth in a will, we would live under a stolen future – thereby mortgaging our future. Remember, what comes from God goes to Him. What comes from truth goes to truth. What comes from stealing goes to stealing. What comes from destruction goes to destruction.'

  

  T. B. Joshua
  • God
  • Live
  • Truth

• Prends l'éloquence et tords-lui son cou!Tu feras bien, en train d'énergie,Du rendre un peu la Rime assagie.Si l'on n’y veille, elle ira jusqu’où? Ô qui dira les torts de la Rime!Quel enfant sourd ou quel nègre fouNous a forgé ce bijou d'un souQui sonne creux et faux sous la lime?

  

  Paul Verlaine
  • Son

• Sometimes I come across a tree which seems like Buddha or Jesus: loving, compassionate, still, unambitious, enlightened, in eternal meditation, giving pleasure to a pilgrim, shade to a cow, berries to a bird, beauty to its surroundings, health to its neighbors, branches for the fire, leaves for the soil, asking nothing in return, in total harmony with the wind and the rain. How much can I learn from a tree? The tree is my church, the tree is my temple, the tree is my mantra, the tree is my poem and my prayer.

  

  Satish Kumar
  • Jesus
  • Pleasure
  • Harmony

• I've worked with a band, and it's nice to have someone to travel around with, but I didn't like it as well on stage.

  

  Randy Newman
  • Nice
  • Band
  • Travel

• When I write a poem, I go into a state of self-forgetfulness, and something higher takes over; I like to call it my best self.

  

  Ben Okri