“Even the biggest book is fragmentary: to finish anything, you have to cut your losses. Nobody every writes his dream book.”

“Nobody has to read this book. Nobody has to pick it up. Nobody has to open it. And if they open it and read it, they don't have to like it. And if you read it and you dislike it, you don't have to remain silent about it. You can write to me, you can complain about it, you can write to the publisher, you can write to the papers, you can write your own book. You can do all those things, but there your rights stop. No one has the right to stop me writing this book. No one has the right to stop it being published, or sold, or bought, or read.”

“Hands down, the biggest thrill is to get a letter from a kid saying, I loved your book. Will you write me another one?”

“What's the best part about writing a book?
Finishing it.”

“A writer is a man like any other: he dreams. And my dream was to be able to say of this book, when I finished: 'This is a book about Alentejo.”

“All books are either dreams or swords,
You can cut, or you can drug, with words.”

“In order to write the book you want to write, in the end you have to become the person you need to become to write that book.”

“Deliberately or not, every author is of course present in every book he or she writes — even in a scientific text.”

“Make no mistake, those who write long books have nothing to say.
Of course those who write short books have even less to say.”

“Nobody steals books but your friends.”