Don't take shadows too seriously. Reality is your only safety. Continue to reject illusion.
Wole SoyinkaRead
The scales of reckoning with mortality are never evenly weighted, alas, and thus it is on the shoulders of the living that the burden of justice must continue to rest.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote expresses the idea that the responsibility for justice falls on those who are alive, as the dead can no longer advocate for it.
Wole Soyinka highlights the weighty responsibility that comes with being alive, particularly in the context of ensuring justice for those who have passed away. It suggests that although the dead cannot advocate for themselves, it is the living who must undertake the duty of seeking justice and maintaining a moral balance in society. This notion implies a deeper reflection on mortality and the moral implications tied to being part of a continuum that includes both the deceased and the living.
Themes
JusticeMortalityResponsibilityLivingBurden
In practice
Example use cases
During a discussion on social issues, this quote can be used to emphasize the importance of pursuing justice for marginalized communities.
More from Wole Soyinka
All quotes βTrading and religion have always been aligned together in the history of the world, and especially on the African continent.
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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.
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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.
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I have a kind of magnetic attraction to situations of violence.
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Art is solace; art is vision, and when I pick up a literary work, I am a consumer of literature for its own sake.
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