“We all believe in the regulations, but you have to know how to interpret them.”
Mario Vargas Llosa book The Time of the Hero
The Time of the Hero (1963)

The Time of the Hero is a 1963 novel by Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa, who won the Nobel Prize in 2010. It was Vargas Llosa's first novel and is set among the cadets at the Leoncio Prado Military Academy in Lima, which he attended as a teenager. The novel portrays the school so scathingly that its leadership burned a large number of copies and condemned the book as Ecuadorian propaganda against Peru.It is notable for its experimental and complex employment of multiple perspectives in a non-linear fashion.
“We all believe in the regulations, but you have to know how to interpret them.”
Mario Vargas Llosa book The Time of the Hero
The Time of the Hero (1963)
“Every thing is done halfway in Peru, and that is why everything goes wrong.”
Mario Vargas Llosa book The Time of the Hero
The Time of the Hero (1963)
“It is easy to know what you want to say, but not to say it.”
Mario Vargas Llosa book The Time of the Hero
The Time of the Hero (1963)
“When you start having bad luck, there isn't an end to it.”
Mario Vargas Llosa book The Time of the Hero
The Time of the Hero (1963)
“A clean conscience might help you to get into heaven. but it won't help your career.”
Mario Vargas Llosa book The Time of the Hero
The Time of the Hero (1963)
“He is always furious, on account of what he finds out or what he doesn't find out.”
Mario Vargas Llosa book The Time of the Hero
The Time of the Hero (1963)