No democracy is born perfect, and none ever gets to be perfect. Yet democracy is superior to authoritarian and totalitarian regimes because, unlike them, democracy is perfectible. Mario Vargas Llosa More Quotes by Mario Vargas Llosa More Quotes From Mario Vargas Llosa Memory is a snare, pure and simple; it alters, it subtly rearranges the past to fit the present. Mario Vargas Llosa simple memories past Nothing better protects a human being against the stupidity of prejudice, racism, religious or political sectarianism, and exclusivist nationalism than this truth that invariably appears in great literature: that men and women of all nations and places are essentially equal, and only injustice sows among them discrimination, fear, and exploitation. Mario Vargas Llosa racism religious men The secret to happiness, at least to peace of mind, is knowing how to separate sex from love. And, if possible, eliminating romantic love from your life, which is the love that makes you suffer. That way, I assure you, you live with greater tranquility and enjoy things more. Mario Vargas Llosa romantic-love knowing sex Like writing, reading is a protest against the insufficiencies of life. Mario Vargas Llosa insufficiency protest reading There are people with a lot of prejudice, a lot of fear of the unknown. They think that immigration is a danger, when really it is a solution. This is an interesting issue, because it will be a central question of our time. Mario Vargas Llosa issues people thinking The secret to a masterpiece is 10 percent inspiration and 90 percent perspiration. Mario Vargas Llosa masterpiece inspiration secret Life is a shitstorm, in which art is our only umbrella." (spoken by character in a novel by Mario Vargas Llosa) Mario Vargas Llosa life-is character art Reading good literature is an experience of pleasure...but it is also an experience of learning what and how we are, in our human integrity and our human imperfection, with our actions, our dreams, and our ghosts, alone and in relationships that link us to others, in our public image and in the secret recesses of our consciousness. Mario Vargas Llosa reading dream integrity You cannot teach creativity - how to become a good writer. But you can help a young writer discover within himself what kind of writer he would like to be. Mario Vargas Llosa creativity teaching writing Its easy to know what you want to say, but not to say it Mario Vargas Llosa what-you-want easy want Once upon a time, there was a boy who learned to read at the age of 5. This changed his life. Owing to the adventure tales he read, he discovered a way to escape from the poor house, the poor country, and the poor reality in which he lived. Mario Vargas Llosa adventure boys country This fact was something I also learned from this first novel that I needed personal experience to invent, to fantasize, to create fiction, but at the same time I needed some distance, some perspective on this experience in order to feel free enough to manipulate it and to transform it into fiction. If the experience is very close, I feel inhibited. I have never been able to write fiction about something that has happened to me recently. If the closeness of the real reality, of living reality, is to have a persuasive effect on my imagination, I need a distance, a distance in time and in space. Mario Vargas Llosa distance real writing When I was young, when I started to write, we were totally convinced that literature was a kind of weapon. Mario Vargas Llosa weapons literature writing In my case, literature is a kind of revenge. It's something that gives me what real life can't give me - all the adventures, all the suffering. All the experiences I can only live in the imagination, literature completes. Mario Vargas Llosa real revenge adventure One can't fight with oneself, for this battle has only one loser. Mario Vargas Llosa loser battle fighting I convinced her that her first loyalty isn't to other people, but to her own feelings. Mario Vargas Llosa loyalty feelings people Writers are the exorcists of their own demons. Mario Vargas Llosa exorcist demon writing I learned to read at the age of five, in Brother Justiniano's class at the De la Salle Academy in Cochabamba, Bolivia. It is the most important thing that has ever happened to me. Almost seventy years later I remember clearly how the magic of translating the words in books into images enriched my life, breaking the barriers of time and space. Mario Vargas Llosa brother book years Revolution will free society of its afflictions, while science will free the individual of his. Mario Vargas Llosa affliction individual revolution No matter how ephemeral it is, a novel is something, while despair is nothing. Mario Vargas Llosa despair ephemeral matter
