Ben Okri Quotes
The poem is never complete in the mind. It emerges, and then it's like an act of unveiling. The unveiling is the longest and most difficult part of it.
Quotes to Explore
-
In those years of the Fifties, in London and New York, I lived, without knowing it, in a time when the profoundest changes were happening: when a radical alteration was getting ready to happen in the way a society saw young girls. And, as a consequence, in the way they saw themselves.
-
I talk every day about doing the right thing.
-
Metaphysics is a dark ocean without shores or lighthouse, strewn with many a philosophic wreck.
-
If I had an ego as big as the Eiffel Tower, would I have won this many collective trophies? I know people like to talk about it. And O.K., I am not going to answer every story. But maybe I will let my collective trophies speak for themselves. I don't know many other footballers who have won as much. Do you?
-
Here in France, I've seen some very good young designers, but they don't have this ability to be good businessmen, too. I think America gives you this.
-
Hip-hop is making a lot of noise. It should get some more spotlight.
-
Winning the peace is harder than winning the war.
-
Never for the sake of peace and quiet deny your convictions.
-
Dance should mean something to you.
-
Good God, do you mean to say this place is a club?
-
I wasn't going to make a slick, glossy over-produced piece of entertainment because then I would be doing what the Capitol did. Then I'm actually putting on the Hunger Games and not making a movie of the 'Hunger Games.'
-
Searches of al Qaeda sites in Afghanistan, undertaken since American-backed forces took control there, are not known to have turned up a significant cache of nuclear materials.
-
I'm going to go to school. It doesn't matter what the outcome is as long as I did it. I can say I did it.
-
You have to master not only the art of listening to your head, you must also master listening to your heart and listening to your gut.
-
I think American audiences like gangster movies. You know, it's part of the culture.
-
The principle of responsibility and collective sanctions is incompatible with the Western concept of justice.
-
You remember Donnie Brasco? It's the most notorious undercover movie ever; it's so street and so real. If you ever imagined yourself doing cop work, you imagined yourself getting pushed to that limit - seeing the furthest you can push yourself while still upholding the law.
-
The problem is that religion tends to give people bad reasons to be good.
-
I was born in Jerusalem with a religious background and a rabbi as a father... it was rather poor, but what we did have, we did have books.
-
I know two kinds of audience only – one coughing, and one not coughing.
-
The human quality Degas most admired was endurance.
-
I talked to some vets in L.A. about what they go through and do they think about their experiences a lot. I got a wide array of answers. Some people get very emotional, which is understandable. Two of my best friends growing up are in the armed services, and getting to represent those guys was a big honor for me.
-
Limitations gone: Since my mind fixed on the moon, Clarity and serenity Make something for which There's no end in sight.
-
The poem is never complete in the mind. It emerges, and then it's like an act of unveiling. The unveiling is the longest and most difficult part of it.
