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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.

— Wole Soyinka The Lion and the Jewel (1959)

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More quotes by Wole Soyinka

The man dies in all who keep silent in the face of tyranny.

Is there now a streak of light at the end of the passage, a light I dare not look upon?

Death and the King's Horseman (1975)

Books and all forms of writing have always been objects of terror to those who seek to suppress truth.

The Man Died (1972)

Romance is the sweetening of the soul With fragrance offered by the stricken heart.

The Lion and the Jewel (1959)

Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain't going away

The Man Died (1972)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Wole Soyinka (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.