Don't take shadows too seriously. Reality is your only safety. Continue to reject illusion.
Wole SoyinkaRead
Very conscious of the fact that an effort was being made to destroy my mind, because I was deprived of books, deprived of any means of writing, deprived of human companionship. You never know how much you need it until you're deprived of it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the profound impact of access to knowledge and human connections on mental well-being.
Wole Soyinka reflects on the emotional and psychological deprivation he faced when he was cut off from books, writing, and companionship. This experience made him aware of the critical role that literature, creative expression, and social interactions play in nurturing the mind and spirit. The quote reminds us of the importance of these elements for our mental health and highlights how easily we can take them for granted until they are no longer accessible.
Themes
BooksWritingCompanionshipMental HealthDeprivation
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech on the importance of education, I could quote Soyinka to highlight the value of access to knowledge.
More from Wole Soyinka
All quotes →Trading 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
Similar quotes
When I hear other people's stories, I like to believe that they contribute to my 'Encyclopedia of Human Experience.' The stories I hear help me expand my definition of what love is, what pain feels like, what sacrifice means, what laughter can do.
Sarah KayRead
Background checks will never stop every criminal from getting their hands on a gun and every single act of gun violence - but the evidence is clear that it's the single most effective policy to help keep guns out of dangerous hands and save lives.
Lucy McbathRead
A river reaches places which its source never knows. And Jesus said that, if we have received His fullness, "rivers of living water" will flow out of us, reaching in blessing even "to the end of the earth" regardless of how small the visible effects of our lives may appear to be.
Oswald ChambersRead
I think it’s intoxicating when somebody is so unapologetically who they are.
Don CheadleRead
I know only one method of operation: to be as honest with others as I am with myself.
Dwight D. EisenhowerRead
I trust that age doth not wither nor custom stale my infinite variety.
Arthur Conan DoyleRead