No matter how ephemeral it is, a novel is something, while despair is nothing. Mario Vargas Llosa More Quotes by Mario Vargas Llosa More Quotes From Mario Vargas Llosa Literature is a form of permanent insurrection. Its mission is to arouse, to disturb, to alarm, to keep men in a constant state of dissatisfaction with themselves. Mario Vargas Llosa alarmswritingmen Violence represents the worst kind of conformism. Mario Vargas Llosa worstviolencekind Eroticism has its own moral justification because it says that pleasure is enough for me; it is a statement of the individual's sovereignty. Mario Vargas Llosa moralpleasureenough The truths that seem most truthful, if you look at them from all sides, if you look at them close up, turn out to be either half truths or lies. Mario Vargas Llosa truthlyinglooks Since it is impossible to know what's really happening, we Peruvians lie, invent, dream and take refuge in illusion. Because of these strange circumstances, Peruvian life, a life in which so few actually do read, has become literary. Mario Vargas Llosa strangedreamlying That is one thing I am sure of amid my many uncertainties regarding the literary vocation: deep inside, a writer feels that writing is the best thing that ever happened to him, or could ever happen to him, because as far as he is concerned, writing is the best possible way of life, never mind the social, political, or financial rewards of what he might achieve through it. Mario Vargas Llosa politicalmindwriting But what do I have? The things I'm told and the things I tell, that's all. And as far as I know, that never yet made anyone fly. Mario Vargas Llosa madeknows There is an incompatibility between literary creation and political activity. Mario Vargas Llosa incompatibilitycreationpolitical The worst thing that can happen to an artist is to be subsidized by the state. It leads to an intellectual and artistic castration. Mario Vargas Llosa statesintellectualartist A good novel is a conjunction of many factors, the main of which is without a doubt, hard work. Mario Vargas Llosa conjunctionshard-workdoubt If you are killed because you are a writer, that's the maximum expression of respect, you know. Mario Vargas Llosa maximumrespectexpression Journalism has been very important for me - for a long time I made my living as a journalist, and it also serves as a source of ideas. Many of the things I have written I would not have written without the experience of being a journalist. Mario Vargas Llosa importantlongideas Death isn't enough. It doesn't remove the stain. But a slap, a whiplash, square on the face, does. Because a man's face is as sacred as his mother or his wife. Mario Vargas Llosa squaresmothermen We must mistrust utopias: they usually end in holocausts. Mario Vargas Llosa utopiaholocaustends It is rare and almost impossible for a novel to have only one narrator. Mario Vargas Llosa narratorsnovelimpossible Even though what I enjoy most is literature, I would not want to live only in a world of fiction, cut off from the rest of life. No - I want to always have a foot in the street, to be inmersed in the activities of my contemporaries, in the times, in the place where I live. Mario Vargas Llosa rest-of-lifecuttingfeet I was very young and lived with my grandparents in a villa with white walls in the Calle Ocharan, in Miraflores. Mario Vargas Llosa grandparentwallwhite Reading was such an enrichment of my life. And it was that pleasure that I had as a very young reader probably that is the origin of my vocation. Mario Vargas Llosa pleasurereadingyoung A novel which persuades us of its truth is true however full of lies it may be Mario Vargas Llosa truth-ismaylying We were trained as writers with the idea that literature is something that can change reality, that it's not just a very sophisticated entertainment, but a way to act. Mario Vargas Llosa realitywayideas
