Linton Kwesi Johnson Quotes

That the language of the poetry of Jamaican music is rastafarian or biblical language cannot simply be put down to the colonizer and his satanic missionaries. The fact is that the historical experience of the black Jamaican is an experience of the most acute human suffering, desolation and despair in the cruel world that is the colonial world ...

The modern stuff, I can take it or leave it. I like its danceability, but the DJs talk a lot of nonsense.

Writing was a political act and poetry was a cultural weapon.

I don't go to see bands any more because I've got tinnitus, so I have to avoid loud music. You get used to it, but when it's quiet you hear a constant ringing.

At the end of the day, life's about realising one's human potential. I don't know if I've realised mine, but I've certainly gone a long way towards realising some goals and some dreams.

Once you have a disease like cancer, you look at life a bit differently. Some things that were important no longer seem as important as they were.

far noh mattah wat dey say,
come wat may,
we are here to stay
inna Inglan,
inna disya time yah...