Sadly however, I discovered in one particular case that a colleague went and paid the bribe on my behalf, just to get our mission fulfilled. That was painful, and it strained our friendship.

Some of us – poets are not exactly poets. We live sometimes – beyond the word.

Alfred Nobel regretted that his invention, dynamite, was converted to degrading use, hence his creation of the Nobel Prize, as the humanist counter to the destructive power of his genius.

Being the first black Nobel laureate, and the first African, the African world considered me personal property. I lost the remaining shreds of my anonymity, even to walk a few yards in London, Paris or Frankfurt without being stopped.

I have no money to give to you but I have ideas and organizational capacity.

I believe that each writer must decide in which language he or she is most comfortable.

Society itself is responsible for the degradation.