You know the name you were given, you do not know the name that you have Jose Saramago More Quotes by Jose Saramago More Quotes From Jose Saramago I don't think it is worth explaining how a character's nose or chin looks. It is my feeling that readers will prefer to construct, little by little, their own character—the author will do well to entrust the reader with this part of the work. Jose Saramago feelingscharacterthinking Sometimes I say that writing a novel is the same as constructing a chair: a person must be able to sit in it, to be balanced on it. If I can produce a great chair, even better. But above all I have to make sure that it has four stable feet. Jose Saramago ablefeetwriting The wisest man I ever knew in my whole life could not read or write. Jose Saramago wisest-manwritingmen Ah, in every age there is always some new wonder to astound mankind until they grow accustomed to it and lose interest. Jose Saramago mankindagewonder The day before is what we bring to the day we're actually living through, life is a matter of carrying along all those days-before just as someone might carry stones, and when we can no longer cope with the load, the work is done, the last day is the only one that is not the day before another day. Jose Saramago donestonesmight People might ask me, What do you propose instead? I propose nothing. I am a mere novelist, I just write about the world as I see it. It is not my job to transform it. I cannot transform it all by myself, and I wouldn't even know how to. I limit myself to saying what I believe the world to be. Jose Saramago writingjobsbelieve I never appreciated 'positive heroes' in literature. They are almost always cliches, copies of copies, until the model is exhausted. I prefer perplexity, doubt, uncertainty, not just because it provides a more 'productive' literary raw material, but because that is the way we humans really are. Jose Saramago herowritingpositive With the passage of time, as well as the social evolution and genetic exchange, we ended up putting our conscience in the color of our blood and the salt of our tears. Jose Saramago colortearsblood We never consider that the things dogs know about us are things of which we have not the faintest notion. Jose Saramago notiondogknows I had no books at home. I started to frequent a public library in Lisbon. It was there, with no help except curiosity and the will to learn, that my taste for reading developed and was refined. Jose Saramago readinghomebook The virtue of maps, they show what can be done with limited space, they foresee that everything can happen therein. Jose Saramago mapsspacedone Just as the habit does not make the monk, the sceptre does not make the king. Jose Saramago monkkingsdoe Society has to change, but the political powers we have at the moment are not enough to effect this change. The whole democratic system would have to be rethought. Jose Saramago hymnspoliticalmoments Some drivers have already got out of their cars, prepared to push the stranded vehicle to a spot where it will not hold up the traffic, they beat furiously on the closed windows, the man inside turns his head in their direction, first to one side then to the other, he is clearly shouting something, to judge by the movements of his mouth he appears to be repeating some words, no one word but three, as turns out to be the case when someone finally manages to open the door, I am blind. Jose Saramago judgingdoorsmen ...the human being to lack that second skin we call egoism has not yet been born, it lasts much longer than the other one, that bleeds so readily. Jose Saramago bornlastsskins We are so afraid of the idea of having to die... that we always try to find excuses for the dead, as if we were asking beforehand to be excused when it is our turn. Jose Saramago askingtryingideas You never know beforehand what people are capable of, you have to wait, give it time, it's time that rules, time is our gambling partner on the other side of the table and it holds all the cards of the deck in its hand, we have to guess the winning cards of life, our lives. Jose Saramago gamblingwinninghands The period that I could consider the most important in my literary work came about beginning with the Revolution, and in a certain way, developed as a consequence of the Revolution. But it was also a result of the counterrevolutionary coup of November 1975. Jose Saramago revolutionimportantway anyone who gets up early by inclination or has been forced to rise early out of necessity finds it intolerable that others should go on sleeping soundly Jose Saramago up-earlygoes-onsleep Jeronimo, my grandfather, swine-herder and story-teller, feeling death about to arrive and take him, went and said goodbye to the trees in the yard, one by one, embracing them and crying because he knew he wouldn't see them again. To truly appreciate life we must remember that nothing lasts for ever and take nothing we enjoy for granted. In so doing we stay grateful and happy for all our good fortune. Jose Saramago gratitudegratefulgoodbye
