Top 89 Fela's Quotes
#2. You cannot sing African music in proper English
Fela Kuti
#3. If your Idea cannot CHANGE the INDUSTRY, you have added no VALUE
Fela Durotoye
#4. I want peace. Happiness. Not only for myself. For everybody.
Fela Kuti
#5. There's a place for talking and criticism. But there's also a place to let our ACTIONS do the talking!
Fela Durotoye
#6. In all, Nigeria belongs to us all and we have a personal responsibility to see that it succeeds
Fela Durotoye
#8. No nation has ever been able to transform by chance. Its always a deliberate and conscious process
Fela Durotoye
#9. THE HOT (AND SERIOUSLY COOL) ENERGY that comes from the musical gospel preached by the title character of FELA! feels as if it could stretch easily to the borders of Manhattan and then across a river or two. There should be dancing in the streets!
Ben Brantley
#10. A year from today, it will be Good if your life is positively different, but GREAT if your life has made a positive difference on others
Fela Durotoye
#11. Real Fathers are men of integrity & honour. Their word is their bond.
Fela Durotoye
#12. We must train our 'future candidates' on not only how to win elections but how to govern well.
Fela Durotoye
#13. We used to play a lot of Fela Kuti in the early days of hip-hop. In my DJ sets I'll jump off into rock, salsa, African. I like to play some crazy stuff and see the vibrations of the people.
Afrika Bambaataa
#14. I must identify myself with Africa. Then I will have an identity.
Fela Kuti
#15. Houses are built brick-by-brick. HOMEs are built word-by-word. Houses don't build themselves. So YOU must build your home
Fela Durotoye
#16. Our nation Nigeria CAN & MUST become a great place to live, otherwise we will have to answer to more than just the next generation
Fela Durotoye
#17. In the innovation age customer experience is key. Your impression defines their expression
Fela Durotoye
#18. Stuff like Buena Vista Social Club and Fela Kuti were quite a main thing to my childhood. As soon as I reached an age where I realized that Fela was singing in English, when I got past his accent, I loved the rawness of it, and the funk and the rhythm and the melody.
King Krule
#19. Success may be measured by things (prosperity, property, positions, possessions) but GREATNESS (Leadership) can only be measured by PEOPLE.
Fela Durotoye
#20. Leadership is a SERVING relationship with OTHERS that inspires THEIR growth and makes the world a better place
Fela Durotoye
#21. Paradox ... Rich in natural resources but poor in the quality of our human resource
Fela Durotoye
#22. We must be the ones to re-define the world class standards of excellence
Fela Durotoye
#23. Africa must remain on the path of democracy. But democracy MUST also remain about the PEOPLE, not about power
Fela Durotoye
#24. When you don't know where you are going in life (No Clear Destination), you don't need direction ... you need Divine Revelation
Fela Durotoye
#25. 99.9% of the information you get about Africa is wrong
Fela Kuti
#26. What you owe your critics are your RESULTS not explanations not defence just RESULTS.Evidence terminates Arguments.
Fela Durotoye
#27. Nigeria 2025 is not a national cake we hope to all share, its a cake we must be ready to bake
Fela Durotoye
#28. A radical is he who has no sense ... fights without reason ... I have a reason. I am authentic. Yes, that's what I am.
Fela Kuti
#29. Real Fathers are men of integrity & honour. Their word is their bond.
Fela Durotoye
#30. I refuse to live my life in fear ...
Fela Kuti
#31. Real Fathers make a positive impact on their generation, and so give the next generation the advantage of a better nation to live in
Fela Durotoye
#32. Individual effort is good but collective effort is better. We need a NETWORK of nation builders
Fela Durotoye
#33. There are many countries but few nations. We are committed to building Nigeria into a most desirable nation to live
Fela Durotoye
#34. A nation is not defined by its borders or the boundaries of its land mass Rather, a nation is defined by adverse people who have been unified by a cause and a value system and who are committed to a vision for the type of society they wish to live in and give to the future generations to come.
Fela Durotoye
#35. Great Leaders do NOT break the law, not because of the fear of being caught but because of the fear of God & love for the land
Fela Durotoye
#36. To be honest and truthful in all endeavours is an experience, not a regret
Fela Kuti
#37. I hold death in my pouch, I cannot die.
Fela Kuti
#38. We must see the new Nigeria The Nigeria We Want we must accept personal responsibility to build it
Fela Durotoye
#39. Many men have children, but not many children have 'Fathers'. Age releases to you reproductive skills. Fatherhood requires LEADERSHIP skills
Fela Durotoye
#40. Seek and achieve "GREATNESS" instead of mere success
Fela Durotoye
#41. In Nigeria they convict by law, not by the truth
Fela Kuti
#42. Great nations are built by great people, not just successful people
Fela Durotoye
#43. Direction is only necessary when your destination is certain but the path to get there isn't clear to you
Fela Durotoye
#44. Because the Internet's there, I have access to a lot of the legends, like Fela Kuti. I used to watch a lot of Fela Kuti videos, just to see how he performed. He inspired me a lot, actually, because he was a man of many words, many good words.
King Krule
#45. Nigerians must have the dream, believe the dream, live the dream and work to build the dream
Fela Durotoye
#46. For every stage and season of your life, PURPOSE will always create a Vacuum that you are wired & equipped to fill. Find Your Vacuum and Fill it.
Fela Durotoye
#47. Without Purpose, LIVING is downgraded to Breathing a boring routine of inhaling oxygen - waiting to exhale
Fela Durotoye
#48. Music is a weapon of the future / music is the weapon of the progressives / music is the weapon of the givers of life
Fela Kuti
#49. We need to adopt a set of common values and be ready to live out those values
Fela Durotoye
#50. My people are scared of the air around them, they always have an excuse not to fight for freedom,
Fela Kuti
#51. I don't tell lies about anybody. That's why i win all my wars.
Fela Kuti
#52. When your EFFORT results in the DESIRED EFFECT, then you have WORKED
Fela Durotoye
#53. There is nothing worse than climbing a ladder to the top, only to discover that it is leaning on the wrong wall. That is DEFECTIVE SUCCESS.
Fela Durotoye
#54. Real Fathers are Role Models worthy of emulation. They choose to live exemplary lifestyles of leadership and excellence
Fela Durotoye
#55. TODAY is the PAST of your FUTURE. So, make TODAY count for the sake of your HISTORY. Use your words, time & choices wisely
Fela Durotoye
#56. I could never leave my home ... It inspires me a lot.
Fela Kuti
#57. Our nation is ripe with a multitude of successful people, who have achieved much for themselves with little impact on anyone else
Fela Durotoye
#58. To be spiritual is not by praying and going to church. Spiritualism is the understanding of the universe so that it can be a better place to live in.
Fela Kuti
#59. Be a solution provider and not a part of the problem to be solved
Fela Durotoye
#60. LIGHT has no value without darkness, just as a SOLUTION has no value without a problem
Fela Durotoye
#61. Listening to the type of music I grew up with, like King Sunny Ade, Fela Kuti and experiencing different things and conditions and hardship, as well as the good times in Nigeria, has definitely carved me into who I am.
Nneka
#62. The challenge has always been that "good people" don't know how to win elections
Fela Durotoye
#63. If you start to see more successful businesses that are playing on a global level, the story of Africa will begin to change
Tara Fela-Durotoye
#64. Good People' need to have manifestations (track record of impact) not just manifestos (intention)
Fela Durotoye
#65. That is my best friend because it is a gift of the creator to Africans. It is a spirit. Marijuana has five fingers of creation ... it enhances all your five senses.
Fela Kuti
#66. Everyone including YOU suffers when you refuse to BE all & DO all you can
Fela Durotoye
#67. It is nice to be important but it is more important to be nice
Fela Durotoye
#68. Music is the weapon. Music is the weapon of the future.
Fela Kuti
#69. Not everything in your past qualifies to be called HISTORY; only the things in the past that shaped your FUTURE
Fela Durotoye
#70. When you're in prison, you can't do anything about what's happening outside.
Fela Kuti
#71. The secret of life is to have no fear.
Fela Kuti
#72. Despite the turbulence our nation has experienced, we WILL arrive safely and without incident!
Fela Durotoye
#73. Your Potential is an OBLIGATION.Its what you MUST be,do and have because you CAN. You Can, you Must, You will
Fela Durotoye
#74. If the path you are walking today won't lead you to your desired destination, then you are STROLLING
Fela Durotoye
#75. Africa and indeed Nigeria has always been a paradox, an inexplicable contraction of a blessed land with a poor masses
Fela Durotoye
#76. Your Potential is all that you can HAVE but have not yet possessed. No limits. No boundaries
Fela Durotoye
#77. With my music, I create change ... I am using my music as a weapon.
Fela Kuti
#78. To achieve this incredible feat of building Nigeria, we must all truly desire to see it happen
Fela Durotoye
#79. Every barren land is a VISION waiting for a VISIONARY
Fela Durotoye
#81. An enlightened and empowered generation is the key to our development in Nigeria and indeed in Africa
Fela Durotoye
#82. If it is not fit to live in, then our job is to make it fit.
Fela Kuti
#83. As a nation, we will only become the shining light to the world with the emergence of more and more role models worthy of emulation by all
Fela Durotoye
#84. The music of Africa is big sound: it's the sound of a community
Fela Kuti
#85. Strong nations are built on SOLID HOMES not big houses
Fela Durotoye
#86. The Fela Kuti Queens - the band members and wives of the late African musician Fela Anikulapo Kuti - are my fashion icons.
Solange Knowles
#87. Music is a spiritual thing, you don't play with music. If you play with music you will die young. You see, because when the higher forces give you the gift of music ... musicians hip, it must be well used for the gift of humanity.
Fela Kuti
#88. Many people read History books but it takes just a few people to LEAD the cause that will shape the course of HISTORY.
Fela Durotoye
#89. What we need now is a nation of great people who live to positively impact others and build enduring legacies
Fela Durotoye
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