In effect I am not a novelist, but rather a failed essayist who started to write novels because he didn't know how to write essays.

Quote by Jose Saramago

Topics: Jose Saramago Quotes

The problem is that the right doesn't need any ideas to govern, but the left...

The problem is that the right doesn't need any ideas to govern, but the left...

I am not a prophet.

I am not a prophet.

There are plenty of reasons not to put up with the world as it is.

There are plenty of reasons not to put up with the world as it is.

In the end we discover the only condition for living is to die.

In the end we discover the only condition for living is to die.

I can't imagine myself outside any kind of social or political involvement.

I can't imagine myself outside any kind of social or political involvement.

The novel is not so much a literary genre, but a literary space, like a...

The novel is not so much a literary genre, but a literary space, like a...

The world had already changed before September 11. The world has been going through a...

The world had already changed before September 11. The world has been going through a...

I never appreciated 'positive heroes' in literature. They are almost always cliches, copies of copies,...

I never appreciated 'positive heroes' in literature. They are almost always cliches, copies of copies,...

What kind of world is this that can send machines to Mars and does nothing...

What kind of world is this that can send machines to Mars and does nothing...

Perhaps it is the language that chooses the writers it needs, making use of them...

Perhaps it is the language that chooses the writers it needs, making use of them...

Abstention means you stayed at home or went to the beach. By casting a blank...

Abstention means you stayed at home or went to the beach. By casting a blank...

I presume that nobody will deny the positive aspects of the North American cultural world....

I presume that nobody will deny the positive aspects of the North American cultural world....

Beginning with adolescence, my political formation was oriented in the ideological direction of Marxism. It...

Beginning with adolescence, my political formation was oriented in the ideological direction of Marxism. It...

The attitude of insolent haughtiness is characteristic of the relationships Americans form with what is...

The attitude of insolent haughtiness is characteristic of the relationships Americans form with what is...

Americans have discovered the fragility of life, that ominous fragility that the rest of the...

Americans have discovered the fragility of life, that ominous fragility that the rest of the...

The world is governed by institutions that are not democratic - the World Bank, the...

The world is governed by institutions that are not democratic - the World Bank, the...

I am a better novelist than a poet, playwright, or essayist.

I am a better novelist than a poet, playwright, or essayist.

There are times when it is best to be content with what one has, so...

There are times when it is best to be content with what one has, so...

The period that I could consider the most important in my literary work came about...

The period that I could consider the most important in my literary work came about...

People live with the illusion that we have a democratic system, but it's only the...

People live with the illusion that we have a democratic system, but it's only the...