"There is only one home to the life of a river-mussel; there is only one home to the life of a tortoise; there is only one shell to the soul of man: there is only one world to the spirit of our race. If that world leaves its course and smashes on boulders of the great void, whose world will give us shelter?"

"[T]he PDP, on whose platform he stands, represents the most harrowing of this nation’s nightmares over and beyond even the horrors of the Abacha regime. If he wishes to be considered on his own merit, now is time for him, as well as others similarly enmeshed, to exercise the moral courage that goes with his repudiation of that party, a dissociation from its past, and a pledge to reverse its menacing future. We shall find him an alternative platform on which to stand, and then have him present his credentials along those of other candidates engaged in forging a credible opposition alliance."

""Come January 20, 2017; watch my WOLEXIT" [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/nobel-prize-winner-wole-soyinka-donald-trump-throws-away-green-card-a7450141.html"

"England is a cesspit. England is the breeding ground of fundamentalist Muslims. Its social logic is to allow all religions to preach openly. But this is illogic, because none of the other religions preach apocalyptic violence. And yet England allows it. Remember, that country was the breeding ground for communism, too. Karl Marx did all his work in libraries there....We should assemble all those who are pure and cannot abide other faiths, put them all in rockets, and fire them into space.....A virus has attacked the world of sense and sensibility, and it has spread to Nigeria....The assumption of power over life and death then passed to every single inconsequential Muslim in the world-as if someone had given them a new stature...Al Qaeda is the descendent of this phenomenon. The proselytization of Islam became vigorous after this. People went to Saudi Arabia. Madrassas were established everywhere."

"The greatest threat to freedom is the absence of criticism."

"the contemporary novel . . . I've read one or two: Rushdie, I've enjoyed, again, exceptionally, Marquez, I love his works: that's another exception. Bessie Head: I found her novels very, very gripping, fascinating, challenging, really intellectually intriguing. Then that black American woman writer, Toni Morrison, the author of Sula, Song of Solomon: she's a fascinating writer. Umberto Eco . . . But generally I don't read novels."

"Sidi feels empowered by seeing her beauty for the first time in the magazine prints. She recognizes that her beauty is a commodity, allowing her agency to make a future for herself. This is a novel idea: choosing one's own future is reserved for men."

"It is five full months since last / I took a wife"

"The greedy dog! Insatiate camel of a foolish, doting race."

"How often must I tell you, Sidi, that / A grown-up girl must cover up her... / Her... shoulders? I can see quite... quite / A good portion of—that!"

"(Lakunle, 2)"

"What I boast is known in Lagos, that city / Of magic, in Badagry where Saro women bathe / In gold, even in smaller towns less than / Twelve miles from here..."

"(Lakunle, 5)"

"Bush-girl you are, bush girl you'll always be; / Uncivilized and primitive—bush-girl!"

"(Lakunle, 9)"

"My Ruth, my Rachel, Esther, Bathsheba / Thou sum of fabled perfections / From Genesis to Revelations"

"(Lakunle, 20)"

"Sadiku, I am young and brimming; he is spent. / I am the twinkle of a jewel / But he is the hind-quarters of a lion!"

"(Sidi, 23)"

"No! I do not envy him! / Just one woman for me!"

"(Lakunle, 26)"

"To husband his wives surely ought to be / A man's first duties—at all times."

"(Sidi, 47)"

"I do not hate progress, only its nature / Which makes all roofs and faces look the same."

"(Baroka, 52)"

"Moreover, I will admit, / It solves the problem of her bride-price too. / A man must live or fall by his true / Principles. That, I had sworn, / Never to pay."

"(Lakunle, 61)"

"Lakunle, last seen, having freed himself of Sadiku, clearing a space for the young girl."

"(Soyinka, 64)"

"The accumulated heritage—that is what we are celebrating. Mali. Chaka. Songhai. Glory. Empires."

"I see we’ve got another of the good old days. Obaneji [on the contrary]."

"Will you take my case?"

"When you see a man hurrying, he has got a load on his back. Do you think I live emptily that I will take another's cause for pay or mercy?"

"The world is big, but the dead are bigger"

"This whole family business sickens me. Let everybody lead their own lives,""

"These rites of the dead. I do not know why you take them on,""

"Aroni has taken control. That is when the guilty become afraid."

"Adenebi becomes defensive and says, "Have you no feeling for those who died?""

"Why don't you confess it? You are the type who would rather die in your bed."

""I have a particular aversion to being mauled by women"

"Recognition is the curse I carry with me."

"Doesn't she look like the type that would drive men to madness and self-destruction?"

"When your businessmen ruin the lesser ones, do you go crying to them?""

"The guests we were sent are slaves and lackeys. They have only come to undermine our strength. To preach to us how ignoble we are."

"The descendants of our great forebears...let them symbolize all that is noble in our nation.""

"A King does not become a menial just because he puts down his crown to eat."

"A shilling's vegetable must appease a halfpenny spice."

"The nude shanks of a king is not a sight for children - it will blind them."

"I said: "A tiger does not proclaim his tigritude, he pounces". In other words: a tiger does not stand in the forest and say: "I am a tiger". When you pass where the tiger has walked before, you see the skeleton of the duiker, you know that some tigritude has been emanated there."