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29 Famous Quotes By Ben Okri

Famous As: Distinguished Nigerian Poet and Novelist Who Won Booker Prize for His Novel ‘The Famished Road’
Born On: March 15, 1959
Born In: Minna, Nigeria
Age: 65 Years
Ben Okri is a distinguished Nigerian novelist and poet who is considered as one of the top-notch African authors in the post-colonial and post-modern traditions. He has been compared to authors such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Salman Rushdie. Okri is considered to be Africa’s ruling writer who shot to with his first novel ‘Flowers And Shadows’. Since then he has risen to international recognition. Some of his notable works include, ‘Songs Of Enchantment’, ‘The Famished Road’, ‘The Infinite Riches’, ‘Dangerous Love’ and ‘The Age of Magic’. His renowned essays, poetries and short-stories include, ‘Birds Of Heaven’, ‘Wild’, ‘Stars Of The New Curfew’, ‘Tales Of Freedom’ amongst others. Following is a corpus of thoughts, viewpoints and opinions that the prolific writer has shared through his writings, novels, poems, essays, novels, work and life. Let us browse through the quotes and sayings by Ben Okri and get a glimpse of his creative mind.
Stories can conquer fear, you know. They can make the heart bigger.

Stories can conquer fear, you know. They can make the heart bigger.

Ben Okri
The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love and to be greater than our suffering.

The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love and to be greater than our suffering.

Ben Okri
This is what you must be like. Grow wherever life puts you down.

This is what you must be like. Grow wherever life puts you down.

Ben Okri
The law is simple. Every experience is repeated or suffered till you experience it properly and fully the first time.

The law is simple. Every experience is repeated or suffered till you experience it properly and fully the first time.

Ben Okri
We can redream this world and make the dream come real. Human beings are gods hidden from themselves.

We can redream this world and make the dream come real. Human beings are gods hidden from themselves.

Ben Okri
A dream can be the highest point of a life

A dream can be the highest point of a life

Ben Okri
Don't neglect the gold in your own back yard.

Don't neglect the gold in your own back yard.

Ben Okri
What you see is what you make. What you see in a people is what you eventually create in them.

What you see is what you make. What you see in a people is what you eventually create in them.

Ben Okri
If we could be pure dancers in spirit we would never be afraid to love, and we would love with strength and wisdom.

If we could be pure dancers in spirit we would never be afraid to love, and we would love with strength and wisdom.

Ben Okri
To see the madness and yet walk a perfect silver line. ... That's what the true story-teller should be: a great guide, a clear mind, who can walk a silver line in hell or madness.

To see the madness and yet walk a perfect silver line. ... That's what the true story-teller should be: a great guide, a clear mind, who can walk a silver line in hell or madness.

Ben Okri
Don't read what everyone else is reading. Check them out later, cautiously.

Don't read what everyone else is reading. Check them out later, cautiously.

Ben Okri
Without stories we would go mad. Life would lose its moorings or lose its orientations. even in silence we are living our stories

Without stories we would go mad. Life would lose its moorings or lose its orientations. even in silence we are living our stories

Ben Okri
A man must be able to hold his drink because drunkenness is sometimes necessary in this difficult life.

A man must be able to hold his drink because drunkenness is sometimes necessary in this difficult life.

Ben Okri
We have not yet arrived, but every point at which we stop requires a re-definition of our destination.

We have not yet arrived, but every point at which we stop requires a re-definition of our destination.

Ben Okri
I held you in the square
And felt the evening
Re-order itself around
Your smile.

I held you in the square And felt the evening Re-order itself around Your smile.

Ben Okri
Who knows, maybe this whole planet is an asylum, a penal realm. A place for hard cases.

Who knows, maybe this whole planet is an asylum, a penal realm. A place for hard cases.

Ben Okri
An inner darkness is darker than an outer darkness.

An inner darkness is darker than an outer darkness.

Ben Okri
He had to learn how not to let his eyes be bewildered by manifestations, and thereby learn to treat appearances as signs and codes of the interior.

He had to learn how not to let his eyes be bewildered by manifestations, and thereby learn to treat appearances as signs and codes of the interior.

Ben Okri
A tolerable hell is better than an impossible heaven.

A tolerable hell is better than an impossible heaven.

Ben Okri
If I don't say the thought right I might destroy it.

If I don't say the thought right I might destroy it.

Ben Okri
So long as a canvas is empty its potential is infinite… The empty canvas can become a gateway into the landscape of nightmares or a vision of sensual bliss.

So long as a canvas is empty its potential is infinite… The empty canvas can become a gateway into the landscape of nightmares or a vision of sensual bliss.

Ben Okri
We ought to step out of our old, hard casing. We think that we are one kind of people, when in fact we are always creating ourselves. We are not fixed. We are constantly becoming, constantly coming into being.

We ought to step out of our old, hard casing. We think that we are one kind of people, when in fact we are always creating ourselves. We are not fixed. We are constantly becoming, constantly coming into being.

Ben Okri
But to hear Mozart in a bombed city: how much more beautiful it sounds, as if it were composed to somehow soothe the ruins, to promise a wiser future rising from the rubble.

But to hear Mozart in a bombed city: how much more beautiful it sounds, as if it were composed to somehow soothe the ruins, to promise a wiser future rising from the rubble.

Ben Okri
Storytellers ought not be too tame. They ought to be wild creatures who function adequately in society. They are best in disguise. If they lose all their wildness, they cannot give us the truest joys.

Storytellers ought not be too tame. They ought to be wild creatures who function adequately in society. They are best in disguise. If they lose all their wildness, they cannot give us the truest joys.

Ben Okri
I love your loneliness. It is brave. It makes the universe want to protect you.

I love your loneliness. It is brave. It makes the universe want to protect you.

Ben Okri
If You Look Too Deeply Everything Breaks Your Heart.

If You Look Too Deeply Everything Breaks Your Heart.

Ben Okri
It is easier to get lost within sight of the palace. [...] Hope makes all things near, and so can prove treacherous.

It is easier to get lost within sight of the palace. [...] Hope makes all things near, and so can prove treacherous.

Ben Okri
Understanding is a pure glass of water. All great truths have no taste. Hints of sweetness are coloured by the need for amazement.

Understanding is a pure glass of water. All great truths have no taste. Hints of sweetness are coloured by the need for amazement.

Ben Okri