Ben Okri Quotes
I began my writing life as a poet, so poetry has always been fundamental. I evolved from poetry to journalism to stories to novels. But poetry was always there.
Quotes to Explore
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It is shallow people who think beauty is frivolous or excessive. If you are bringing beauty and god, you are enriching the country. Rice feeds the body, books feed the mind, beauty feeds the soul. It is one thing I can really be proud of and stand tall in the world.
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Everywhere I go, I will make a good payday. But we got to choose the right opponent and the right time and the right venue.
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When I'm out on the stage, it gives me this rush and anything that's on my mind and everything I'm going through is forgotten about.
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We're dealing with sophisticated customers. What's most important to these women is individuality. I have to create things she'll want to wear, no matter who she is.
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Because the nights bring the threat of invasion and terror to the villages, thousands of children in northern Uganda have become night commuters, leaving the nightmare of capture behind for the safety of the city.
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I am sure I am one of 2,000 film directors in the world that Tarantino admires.
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I've been a victim in every film I have done so far. It would be nice to play someone who doesn't get killed for once. Then again, I am getting really good at screaming and fake tears.
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I don't really do sad, depressing songs.
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My wife and I often visit Rosales and the Ilokos as a matter of habit or whim induced by nostalgia, homesickness - whatever draws pilgrims to worshipped sanctuaries. Or, perhaps, what compels moths to seek the votive flame.
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I never thought about having a daughter, and then I had a daughter, and it was a remarkable thing. It was very different from having a son and your response to it. With a son, it's much more complex. And it's probably because of my stuff in the past. With a daughter, I was surprised at how simple it is.
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The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.
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Everything is being compressed into tiny tablets. You take a little pill of news every day - 23 minutes - and that's supposed to be enough.
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Thanks to my father, we were always in good horses.
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I made nothing happen very slowly.
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And the success of the union movement, historically, has always been to benefit all working men and women - not just people who belong to the union.
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The key is a good story. If you have a good story, you have enough emotional beats that you can hit.
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Women who give up their children for adoption are years and years later talking about how painful it was, much more than women who have abortions.
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I'm not a huge soccer fan, but I follow the sport. I played in high school, a little bit in college, played on various club teams most of my life, and all three of my sons are competitive soccer players and far better than I ever was.
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But the fact is that when wine is taken in moderation, it gives rise to a large amount of breath, whose character is balanced, and whose luminosity is strong and brilliant. Hence wine disposes greatly to gladness, and the person is subject to quite trivial exciting agents. The breath now takes up the impression of agents belonging to the present time more easily than it does those which relate to the future; it responds to agents conducive to delight rather than those conducive to a sense of beauty.
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I've had a very supportive mother my entire life, so I've had strong women around me.
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You can never study Franklin Delano Roosevelt too much.
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Love is the core of everything - nothing survives without it.
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I enjoyed the administrative work because it involved working with Congress, city council, and the mayor. I had never been a politician so it was fun - learning political maneuvering.
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I began my writing life as a poet, so poetry has always been fundamental. I evolved from poetry to journalism to stories to novels. But poetry was always there.
