Ben Okri
Ben Okri
Ben Okri OBE FRSLis a Nigerian poet and novelist. Okri is considered one of the foremost African authors in the post-modern and post-colonial traditions and has been compared favourably to authors such as Salman Rushdie and Gabriel García Márquez...
NationalityNigerian
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth15 March 1959
CountryNigeria
men able sometimes
A man must be able to hold his drink because drunkenness is sometimes necessary in this difficult life.
inspirational dream real
We can still astonish the gods in humanity And be the stuff of future legends, If we but dare to be real, And have the courage to see That this is the time to dream The best dream of them all.
power vision should
If we are true, if we can love, if we have vision, if we can have courage, we can, we should, we ought to, we will...
people healthy stories
People are as healthy and confident as the stories they tell themselves.
spirit enchanted
We are living in enchanted time. With our spirits right.
scientist
I was going to be a scientist.
home homeless
To anyone who is homeless, I say, find a home.
gold yards neglect
Don't neglect the gold in your own back yard.
dream children kids
I was told stories, we were all told stories as kids in Nigeria. We had to tell stories that would keep one another interested, and you weren't allowed to tell stories that everybody else knew. You had to dream up new ones.
stress writing hands
I was born left-handed, but I was made to use my other hand. When I was writing 'Famished Road,' which was very long, I got repetitive stress syndrome. My right wrist collapsed, so I started using my left hand. The prose I wrote with my left hand came out denser, so later on I had to change it.
darkness inner-darkness
An inner darkness is darker than an outer darkness.
dancer spirit afraid-to-love
If we could be pure dancers in spirit we would never be afraid to love, and we would love with strength and wisdom.
ignorance simple parent
We disliked the rigours of existence, the unfulfilled longings, the enshrined injustices of the world, the labyrinths of love, the ignorance of parents, the fact of dying, and the amazing indifference of the Living in the midst of the simple beauties of the universe. We feared the heartlessness of human beings, all of whom are born blind, few of whom ever learn to see.
dream highest
a dream can be the highest point of a life