Don't take shadows too seriously. Reality is your only safety. Continue to reject illusion.
Wole SoyinkaRead
I have a kind of magnetic attraction to situations of violence.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects an individual's inner conflict and complex relationship with violence and conflict.
Wole Soyinka's quote expresses a personal tendency to be drawn to violent situations, suggesting an innate curiosity or engagement with the darker aspects of humanity and society. This attraction may reflect deeper themes of resistance, social justice, or the human condition, indicating that violence, despite its destructive nature, can compel attention and provoke thought, challenging individuals to confront uncomfortable truths.
Themes
ViolenceAttractionHumanityConflictCuriosity
In practice
Example use cases
During a discussion on human psychology, one might quote Soyinka to emphasize the complexities of human attraction to chaos.
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
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
I'm an Afro-realist. I take what comes, and I do my best to affect what is unacceptable in society.
Wole SoyinkaRead
Similar quotes
A free people [claim] their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate.
Thomas JeffersonRead
I remember thinking how easy it is to speak in clichés, to steal a line from pulp fiction and let it fall. We can only hover around the inexpressible with our words anyway, and there is comfort in saying what we have heard before.
Siri HustvedtRead
It is true that I am of an older fashion; much that I love has been destroyed or sent into exile.
Gilbert K. ChestertonRead
I know I was born and I know that I'll die... _x000D_ The in between is mine._x000D_ I Am Mine
Eddie VedderRead
I am not tired of my work, neither am I tired of the world; yet, when Christ calls me home, I shall go with gladness.
Adoniram JudsonRead
I am a Muslim, because it's a religion that teaches you an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. It teaches you to respect everybody, and treat everybody right. But it also teaches you if someone steps on your toe, chop off their foot. And I carry my religious axe with me all the time.
Malcolm XRead