Quotes from 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.

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

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.

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.

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

You are a mischievous one. You will cause no end of trouble. You have to travel many roads before you find the river of your destiny. This life of yours will be full of riddles. You will be protected and you will never be alone.

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

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

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

Reading, like writing, is a creative act. If readers only bring a narrow range of themselves to the book, then they'll only see their narrow range reflected in it.

To anyone who is homeless, I say, find a home.

I know that human beings are capable of anything.

I became a sceptic of one way of seeing the world. And I think it is what started me in my awareness that any worldview is superstitious.

The worst time was 1983. Love and life and everything went wrong. I reached absolute rock bottom. I saw the Minotaur at the bottom of the abyss. I learnt of the harshness of the world and its impartiality to human failure.

I believe in leavening. You can't have words sticking out too much, like promontories. They disturb the density. You have to flatten them, or raise the surrounding terrain.

The strange thing about Africa is how past, present and future come together in a kind of rough jazz, if you like.

The greatest religions convert the world through stories.

Politics is the art of the possible; creativity is the art of the impossible.

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.

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.

One of the greatest gifts my father gave me - unintentionally - was witnessing the courage with which he bore adversity. We had a bit of a rollercoaster life with some really challenging financial periods. He was always unshaken, completely tranquil, the same ebullient, laughing, jovial man.

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

You cannot come to a Nigerian restaurant without having pepper soup.

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