Ben Okri Quotes

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Ben Okri

Profession : Poet

Birth : March 15, 1959

Artists and writers have to deal with the element that makes the real real and the dream real while you are dreaming it. That's where stories and poems get their power.

Ben Okri

When I write a poem, I go into a state of self-forgetfulness, and something higher takes over; I like to call it my best self.

Ben Okri

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

Ben Okri

Home can be the friend you have been searching for all your life or the person you met once very briefly.

Ben Okri

I am one year older than Nigeria at 51. In a human life, 51 might be old. But it is very young for a nation. By that, I mean a Nigeria conscious of itself as a nation.

Ben Okri

If you are working in an office, where do you find the time to write a novel? But you can finish a short story in five pages. Furthermore, a short story is a perfect place to learn the craft.

Ben Okri

Some of my reactions are very Nigerian. I still believe that words are things.

Ben Okri