xy

@xy, member from Sept. 25, 2023

Favourite quotes (21448)

“I think that we do not deserve life, I think that religions have been and continue to be instruments of domination and death.”

José Saramago (1922–2010) Portuguese writer and recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature

Interview to the newspaper "O Globo", 2009.

“Fate [is] the supreme order to which even gods are subject. And what of men, what is their function. To challenge order, to change fate. For the better. For better or for worse, it makes no difference, the point is to keep fate from being fate.”

José Saramago book The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis

O destino é a ordem suprema, a que os próprios deuses aspiram, E os homens, que papel vem a ser o dos homens, Perturbar a ordem, corrigir o destino, Para melhor, Para melhor ou para pior, tanto faz, o que é preciso é impedir que o destino seja destino.
Source: The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis (1993), p. 288

“The worst thing about death is that you once were, and now you are not.”

José Saramago (1922–2010) Portuguese writer and recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature

O pior da morte é que antes estavas e agora não estás. <br class="br">Interview, O Saramago que conheço http://www.portal730.com.br/wellington-borges/o-saramago-que-conheco, Portal 730, 2010.

“Don’t quibble with the king over pears, let him eat the ripe ones and give you the green ones.”

José Saramago book The Cave

Source: The Cave (2000), p. 78 (Vintage 2003)

“You can learn almost everything from reading, But I read too, So you must know something, Now I’m not so sure, You’ll have to read differently then, How, The same method doesn’t work for everyone, each person has to invent his or her own, whichever suits them best, some people spend their entire lives reading but never get beyond reading the words on the page, they don’t understand that the words are merely stepping stones placed across a fast-flowing river, and the reason they’re there is so that we can reach the farther shore, it’s the other side that matters, Unless, Unless what, Unless those river don’t just have two shores but many, unless each reader is his or own shore, and that shore is the only shore worth reaching”

José Saramago book The Cave

Source: The Cave (2000), p. 60 (Vintage 2003)

“Time is a master of ceremonies who always ends up putting us in our rightful place, we advance, stop and retreat according to his orders, our mistake lies in imagination that we can catch him out.”

José Saramago book The Cave

Source: The Cave (2000), p. 115 (Vintage 2003)

“The only time we can talk about death is while we’re alive, not afterwards.”

José Saramago book The Cave

Source: The Cave (2000), p. 22 (Vintage 2003)

“By the way, we feel we must mention that death, by herself and alone, with no external help, has always killed far less than mankind has.”

José Saramago book Death with Interruptions

A propósito, não resistiremos a recordar que a morte, por si mesma, sozinha, sem qualquer ajuda externa, sempre matou muito menos que o homem.
Source: Death with Interruptions (2005), p. 117

“That night the blind man dreamt that he was blind.”

José Saramago book Blindness

Source: Blindness (1995), p. 15

“Now we live in the empire of oil and money — the rest is disguise.”

José Saramago (1922–2010) Portuguese writer and recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature

ÉPOCA Interview (in Portuguese) http://revistaepoca.globo.com/Epoca/0,6993,EPT1061569-1666-2,00.html, São Paulo, 2005.

“Deep down, I don't create anything. I'm just someone who simply lifts a rock and exposes what's beneath it. It's not my fault that monsters come out some times.”

José Saramago (1922–2010) Portuguese writer and recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature

Eu, no fundo, não invento nada. Sou apenas alguém que se limita a levantar uma pedra e a pôr à vista o que está por baixo. Não é minha culpa se de vez em quando me saem monstros.
Quoted in the article Literatura: Saramago doutor honoris causa da Universidade Autónoma Madrid. Published by Rádio Mirasado. (March 15th, 2007)

“a waiting, stagnant darkness, thick and silent as the ocean deeps”

José Saramago book All the Names

uma escuridão parada à espera, espessa e silenciosa como o fundo do mar
Source: All the Names (1997), p. 107

“when you are old and realize that time is running out, you start imagining that you have the cure for all the ills of the world in your hand, and get frustrated because no one pays you any attention”

José Saramago book All the Names

Source: All the Names (1997), p. 172

“Human nature is, by definition, a talkative one, imprudent, indiscreet, gossipy, incapable of closing its mouth and keeping it closed.”

José Saramago book The Cave

Source: The Cave (2000), p. 117(vintage 2003)

“[…], perhaps that's how you learn, by answering questions.”

José Saramago book All the Names

Source: All the Names (1997), p. 48