Discover a wealth of wisdom and insight from Jose Saramago through their most impactful and thought-provoking quotes and sayings. Expand your perspective with their inspiring words and share these beautiful Jose Saramago quote pictures with your friends and followers on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, or your personal blog - all free of charge. We've compiled the top 471 Jose Saramago quotes for you to explore and share with others.

What do you think you'll do, Abel?" Abel walked slowly over to Silvestre and said: "Something very simple: I'm going to live. I will leave your home feeling much more confident than when I entered it. Not because the path you showed me was the right one for me, but because you made me realize that I need to find my own path. It will take time, though ... " "Yours will always be the path of pessimism." "Probably, but I want my pessimism to keep me safe from facile, comforting illusionslike love." Silvestre gripped him by the shoulders and shook him: "But Abel, anything that isn't built on love will only generate hate!" "You're right, my friend, but perhaps that's how it will have to be for a long time yet. The day when we can build on love has still now arrived. By Jose Saramago Abel Path Love Silvestre Pessimism

I presume that nobody will deny the positive aspects of the North American cultural world. These are well known to all. But these aspects do not make one forget the disastrous effects of the industrial and commercial process of 'cultural lamination' that the USA is perpetrating on the planet. By Jose Saramago North American World Presume Deny

... the worshipers here are not likely to kill one another, they all offer the same sacrifice, and how the fat spits and the carcasses sizzle as God in the sublime heavens inhales the odors of all this carnage with satisfaction. Jesus pressed his lamb to his breast, unable to fathom why God could not be appeased with a cup of milk poured over His altar, that sap of life which passes from one being to another, or with a handful of wheat, the basic substance of immortal bread. Soon he will have to part with the old man's generous gift, his for such a short time, the poor little lamb will not live to see the sun set this day, it is time to mount the stairs of the Temple, to deliver it to the knife and sacrificial fire, as if it were no longer worthy of existence or being punished ... By Jose Saramago God Lamb Time Temple Sacrifice

Standing there, the doctor's wife watched the two blind men who were arguing, she noticed they made no gestures, that they barely moved their bodies, having quickly learned that only their voice and hearing now served any purpose, true, they had their arms, that they could fight, grapple, come to blows, as the saying goes, but a bed swapped by mistake was not worth so much fuss, if only all life's deceptions were like this one, and all they had to do was to come to some agreement, Number two is mine, yours is number three, let that be understood once and for all, Were it not for the fact that we're blind this mix-up would never had happened, You're right, our problem is that we're blind. The doctor's wife said to her husband, The whole world is right here. By Jose Saramago Blind Number Doctor True Grapple

Contrary to popular belief, the helpful words that open the way to great, dramatic dialogues are, in general, modest, ordinary, banal, no one would think that Would you like a cup of coffee could serve as an introduction to a bitter debate about feelings that have died or to the sweetness of a reconciliation that neither person knows how to bring about. By Jose Saramago Modest Ordinary Banal Contrary Belief

Of course it does. I can't make judgments using other people's ideas!" "There's the sticking point! You're forgetting that other people have their own ideas about good and evil, ideas that might be better than yours . . ." "If everyone thought like you, we would never get anywhere. We need rules, we need laws! By Jose Saramago Ideas People Point Make Judgments

Penetrating the walls and rising to the stars, the music continued, the slow movement of the Eroica Symphony, crying out against pain, crying out against the injustice of man's mortality. By Jose Saramago Crying Symphony Eroica Penetrating Stars

Death went on, If I'd sent you, with your taste for expeditious methods, the matter would have been resolved, but times have changed a lot lately, and one has to update the means and the systems one uses, to keep up with the new technologies, by using e-mail, for example, I've heard tell that it's the most hygienic way, one that does away with inkblots and fingerprints, besides which it's fast, you just open up outlook express on microsoft and it's gone, the difficulty would be having to work with two separate archives, one for those who use computers and another for those who don't, anyway, we've got plenty of time to think about it, they're always coming out with new models and new designs, with new improved technologies, perhaps I'll try it some day, but until then, I'll continue to write with pen, paper and ink, it has the charm of tradition, and tradition counts for a lot when it comes to dying. By Jose Saramago Technologies Lot Tradition Death Methods

The worst pain ... isn't the pain you feel at the time, it's the pain you feel later on when there's nothing you can do about it, They say that time heals all wounds, But we never live long enough to test that theory ... By Jose Saramago Pain Worst Feel Time Wounds

Switch on the light, she said, I want to know if this is real. By Jose Saramago Switch Light Real

Pleased? On the contrary. I think you're in the grip of tedium. You're tired of life, you think you've learned all there is to learn, and everything you see around you only increases your sense of tedium. Why, then, should I feel pleased? It isn't always easy to cut off a tentacle. You can always leave a boring job and, even more easily, a boring woman, but tedium, how do you cut yourself off from that? By Jose Saramago Tedium Pleased Boring Cut Contrary

There is no one here, said the girl with dark glasses, and burst into tears leaning against the door, her head on her crossed forearms, as if her with her whole body she were deperately imploring pity, if we did not have enough experience of how complicated the human spirit can be we would be surprised that she should be so fond of her parents as to indulge in these demonstrations of sorrow, a girl so free in her behaviour, but not far away is someone who has already affirmed that there does not exist nor ever has existed any contradiction between the one and the other. By Jose Saramago Girl Glasses Door Forearms Pity

Say to a blind man, you're free, open the door that was separating him from the world, Go, you are free, we tell him once more, and he does not go, he has remained motionless there in the middle of the road, he and the others, they are terrified, they do not know where to go, the fact is that there is no comparison between living in a rational labyrinth, which is, by definition, a mental asylum and venturing forth, without a guiding hand or a dog-leash, into the demented labyrinth of the city, where memory will serve no purpose, for it will merely be able to recall the images of places but not the paths whereby we might get there. By Jose Saramago Free Labyrinth Man Open World

This is the effect of panic, a natural effect, you could say that animal nature is like this, plant life would behave in exactly the same way, too, if it did not have all those roots to hold it in the ground, and how nice it would be to see the trees of the forest fleeing the flames. By Jose Saramago Effect Panic Plant Ground Flames

The doves, as we know, must be killed according to the law before Mary's purification can be acknowledged and ratified. Any ironic or irreverent disciple of Voltaire will find it difficult to resist making the obvious remark that, things being what they are, purity can be maintained only so long as there are innocent creatures to sacrifice in this world, whether turtledoves, lambs, or others. By Jose Saramago Mary Doves Ratified Killed Law

I was employed as a salesman, selling a marvelous tea that could cure all ills. Funny, don't you think? I have never lied so much in my life, I traveled all over the country, selling my miraculous tea to whoever would believe me. I never felt guilty about it. The tea didn't do any harm, I can assure you, and my words gave such hope to those who bought it that I reckon they might still owe me money, because hope is beyond price. By Jose Saramago Selling Salesman Ills Tea Employed

A full moon, although less splendid than that earlier on,lit everything around. Before I reached the point where I would have to leave the road and set off across country, the narrow path I was following seemed suddenly to end and disappear behind a large hedge, and there before me, as if blocking my way, stood a single, tall tree, very dark at first against the transparently clear night sky. Out of nowhere, a breeze got up. It set the tender stems of the grasses shivering, made the green blades of the reeds shudder and sent a ripple across the brown waters of a puddle. Like a wave, it lifted up the spreading branches of the tree and, murmuring, climbed the trunk, and then, suddenly, the leaves turned their undersides to the moon and the whole beech tree (because it was a beech) was covered in white as far as the topmost branch.It was only a moment, no more than that, but the memory of it will last as long as my life lasts. By Jose Saramago Tree Full Splendid Earlier Onlit

We say to the confused, Know thyself, as if knowing yourself was not the fifth and most difficult of human arithmetical operations, we say to the apathetic, Where there's a will, there's a way, as if the brute realities of the world did not amuse themselves each day by turning that phrase on its head, we say to the indecisive, Begin at the beginning, as if beginning were the clearly visible point of a loosely wound thread and all we had to do was to keep pulling until we reached the other end, and as if, between the former and the latter, we had held in our hands a smooth, continuous thread with no knots to untie, no snarls to untangle, a complete impossibility in the life of a skein, or indeed, if we may be permitted one more stock phrase, in the skein of life. By Jose Saramago Phrase Beginning Thread Life Skein

Dying has always been a matter of time. But to die just because you're blind, there can be no worse way of dying, We die of illnesses, accidents, chance events, And now we shall also die of blindness, I mean, we shall die of blindness and cancer, of blindness and tuberculosis, of blindness and AIDS, of blindness and heart attacks, illnesses may differ from one person to another but what is really killing us now is blindness, We are not immortal, we cannot escape death, but at least we should not be blind. By Jose Saramago Blindness Die Dying Time Matter

The General Cemetery's unwritten motto is All the Names, although it should be said that, in fact, these three words fit the Central Registry like a glove, because it is there that all the names are to be found, both those of the dead and those of the living, while the cemetery, given its role as ultimate destination and ultimate depository, has to content itself only with the names of the dead. This mathematical evidence, however, is not enough to silence the keepers of the General Cemetery who, confronted by what they call their apparent numerical inferiority, usually shrug their shoulders and argue, With time and patience everyone ends up here, the Central Registry, from this point of view, is merely a tributary of the General Cemetery. By Jose Saramago General Cemetery Central Dead Registry

I was a good pupil at primary school: in the second class I was writing with no spelling mistakes, and the third and fourth classes were done in a single year. By Jose Saramago School Mistakes Year Good Pupil

I know, to be useful," broke in Abel impatiently. "When I said that, I had no idea you would be leaving us so soon. I also said that I couldn't give you advice, and I say the same now. But you're leaving tomorrow and we might never see each other again. I decided that, even if I can't advise you, I can at least tell you that a life without love, a life like the one you described just now, isn't live at all, it's a dung heap, a sewer. By Jose Saramago Abel Broke Impatiently Leaving Life

The church I mentioned will be established, but its foundation, in order to be truly solid, will be dug in flesh, its walls made from the cement of renunciation, tears, agony, anguish, every conceivable form of death. By Jose Saramago Tears Agony Anguish Established Foundation

Beginning with adolescence, my political formation was oriented in the ideological direction of Marxism. It was natural, being that my thinking was influenced by an atmosphere of active critical resistance. That was the way it was during all of the dictatorship and up to the Revolution of 1974. By Jose Saramago Marxism Beginning Adolescence Political Formation

For me, writing is a job. I do not separate the work from the act of writing like two things that have nothing to do with each other. I arrange words one after another, or one in front of another, to tell a story, to say something that I consider important or useful, or at least important or useful to me. By Jose Saramago Job Writing Important Separate Work

From literature to ecology, from the escape velocity of galaxies to the greenhouse effect, from garbage disposal methods to traffic jams, everything is discussed in our world. But the democratic system, as if it were a given fact, untouchable by nature until the end of time, we don't discuss that. By Jose Saramago Ecology Effect Jams World Literature

In a matter of a moment the amount of sand in the upper part of the hour-glass had dwindled dramatically, the tiny grains were rushing through the opening, each grain more eager to leave then the last, time is just like people, sometimes it's all it can do to drag itself along, but at others, it runs like a deer and leaps like a young goat, which, when you think about it, is not saying much, since the cheetah is the fastest of all the animals, and yet it has never occurred to anyone to say of another person He runs and jumps like a cheetah, perhaps because that first comparison comes from the magical late middle ages, when gentlemen went deer-hunting and no one had ever seen a cheetah running or even heard of its existence. Languages are conservative, they always carry their archives with them and hate having to be updated. By Jose Saramago Cheetah Runs Dramatically Opening Time

If shame still has any meaning in this hell we're expected to live ... it is thanks to that person who had the courage to go and kill, ... Agreed, but shame won't fill our plates, ... You're right in what you say, there have always been those who have filled their bellies because they had no sense of shame. By Jose Saramago Live Shame Meaning Hell Expected

Now then, don't give it another thought, today it's your turn, tomorrow it will be mine, we never know what might lie in store for us, You're right, who would have thought, when I left the house this morning, that something as dreadful as this was about to happen. He was puzzled that they should still be at a standstill, Why aren't we moving, he asked, The light is on red, replied the other. From now on he would no longer know when the light was red. By Jose Saramago Thought Today Turn Tomorrow Mine

It is an archive ... You probably get rooms like this in even the most modern of offices, like a rusty anchor chained to the past and with no purpose in life. By Jose Saramago Archive Offices Life Rooms Modern

Don't ask me what good and what evil are, we knewwhat it was each time we had to act when blindness was an ex-ception, what is right and what is wrong are simply differentways of understanding our relationships with the others, not thatwhich we have with ourselves, one should not trust the latter By Jose Saramago Exception Good Evil Knewwhat Time

I'm not pessimistic. It is the world that is terrible. How can we be optimistic in the face of a planet where people live so badly, nature is being destroyed and the dominant empire is money? By Jose Saramago Pessimistic Terrible World Badly Nature

Now don't run away." "I'm not. I learned to see beyond the soles of these shoes. I learned that behind this wretched life we lead there is a great ideal, a great hope. I learned that each individual life should be guided by that hope and by that ideal. And people who don't feel that must have died before they were born." He smiled and added, "Those aren't my words. It's something I heard someone else say years ago." "In your view ,then, I belong to the group who died before they were born?" "No, you belong to another group, the ones who haven't yet been born." "Aren't you forgetting about all my experience of life?" "Not at all, but experience is only worth anything when it's useful to other people, and you're not useful to anyone. By Jose Saramago Learned Born Life Run Ideal

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. By Jose Saramago Jeronimo Grandfather Swineherder Storyteller Feeling

By the altar, which is made of massive slabs of stone untouched by tools since hewn from the quarry and set up in this vast edifice, a barefooted priest wearing a linen tunic waits for the Levite to hand over the turtledoves. He takes the first one, carries it to a comer of the altar, and with a single blow knocks the head from its body. [ ... ] Joseph has nothing more to accomplish here, he must withdraw, collect his wife and child, and return home. Mary is pure once more, not in the strict sense of the word, because purity is something to which most human beings, and above all women, can scarcely hope to aspire. By Jose Saramago Altar Levite Edifice Turtledoves Made

Now they all felt the need to relieve themselves, especially the poor boy who could not hold it in any longer, in fact, however reluctant we might be to admit it, these distasteful realities of life also have to be considered, when the bowels function normally, anyone can have ideas, debate, for example, whether there exists a direct relationship between the eyes and feelings, or whether the sense of responsibility if the natural consequence of clear vision, but when we are in great distress and plagued by pain and anguish that is when the animal side of our nature becomes most apparent. By Jose Saramago Debate Longer Fact Considered Ideas

Somewhere in the infinite that He occupies, God advances and withdraws the pawns of the other games He plays, but it is too soon to worry about this one, all He need do for the present is allow things to take their natural course, apart from the occasional adjustment with the tip of His little finger to make sure some stray thought or action does not interfere with the harmony of destinies. By Jose Saramago God Occupies Plays Destinies Infinite

They were proclaiming the end of the world, redemption through penitence, the visions of the seventh day, the advent of the angel, cosmic collisions, the death of the sun, the tribal spirit, the sap of the mandrake, tiger ointment, the virtue of the sign, the discipline of the wind, the perfume of the moon, the revindication of darkness, the power of exorcism, the sign of the heel, the crucifixion of the rose, the purity of the lymph, the blood of the black cat, the sleep of the shadow, the rising of the seas, the logic of anthropophagy, painless castration, divine tattoos, voluntary blindness, convex thoughts, or concave, or horizontal or vertical, or sloping, or concentrated, or dispersed, or fleetin, the weakening of the vocal cords, the death of the word. Here, nobody is speaking of organisation. By Jose Saramago Death Sign World Redemption Penitence

He imagined that he was looking for her and couldn't find her anywhere, that the two of them were lost on a vast ship, sleep is a skilled magician, it changes the proportions of things, the distances between them, it separates people and they're lying next to each other, brings them together and they can barely see one another, the woman is sleeping only a few yards away from him and he cannot reach her, yet it's so very easy to go from port to starboard. By Jose Saramago Ship Sleep Magician Things Brings

A writer is a man like any other: he dreams. And my dream was to be able to say of this book, when I finished: 'This is a book about Alentejo'. By Jose Saramago Alentejo Writer Man Book Finished

Change it!" answered Silvestre, also springing to his feet. "How? By loving each other?" Abel's smile vanished when he saw Silvestre's grave expression. "Yes, but loving each other with a lucid, active love, a love that can overcome hatred. By Jose Saramago Change Answered Feet Silvestre Springing

The road to self-deception is narrow to begin with, but there's always someone ready to broaden it out, for as the proverb says, self-deception is like eating or scratching, it's all a matter of beginning. By Jose Saramago Selfdeception Scratching Beginning Road Narrow

It was said that one of them, either the actor or the history teacher, was superfluous in this world, but you weren't, you weren't superfluous, there is no duplicate of you to come and replace you at your mother's side, you were unique, just as every ordinary person is unique, truly unique. By Jose Saramago Unique Superfluous Teacher World Side

When you grow up, you'll want to be happy. You don't give a thought to that now, which is why you are happy. The moment you think about it, the moment you want to be happy, you will cease to be happy. Forever. Possibly forever. Do you hear? Forever. The stronger your desire to be happy, the unhappier you will be. Happiness isn't something you can conquer. People will tell you that it is. Don't believe them. Happiness either is or isn't. By Jose Saramago Happy Forever Moment Grow Happiness

The prime minister's final flourish, Honour your country, for the eyes of the country are upon you, complete with drumrolls and bungle blasts, unearthed from the attics of the mustiest of nationalistic rhetoric, was ruined by a Good night that rang entirely false, but then that is the great thing about ordinary words, they are incapable of deceit. By Jose Saramago Honour Country Good Flourish Complete

The republic was no longer a novelty, and here people only appreciate novelties. By Jose Saramago Novelty Novelties Republic Longer People

Fortunately the essence of this revelation did not escape Mary despite the angel's obscure speech, and, much surprised, she asked him, So Jesus is my son and the son of the Lord, Woman, what are you saying, show some respect for rank and precedence, what you must say is the son of the Lord and me, Of the Lord and of you, No, of the Lord and of you, You're confusing me, just answer my question, is Jesus our son, You mean to say the Lord's son because you only served to bear the child, So the Lord didn't choose me, Don't be absurd ( ... ) Is there any real proof that it was the Lord's seed which engendered my first-born, Well, it's a delicate matter, and what you're demanding is nothing less than a paternity test which in these mixed unions, no matter how many analyses, tests, and globule counts one carries out, can never give conclusive results. By Jose Saramago Lord Son Jesus Woman Mary

What does reading do, You can learn almost everything from reading, But I read too, So you must know something, Now I'm not so sure, You'll have to read differently then, How, The same method doesn't work for everyone, each person has to invent his or her own, whichever suits them best, some people spend their entire lives reading but never get beyond reading the words on the page, they don't understand that the words are merely stepping stones placed across a fast-flowing river, and the reason they're there is so that we can reach the farther shore, it's the other side that matters, Unless, Unless what, Unless those rivers don't have just two shores but many, unless each reader is his or her own shore, and that shore is the only shore worth reaching. By Jose Saramago Reading Shore Words Read Whichever

There are things we do automatically, our body, acting on its own, avoids inconvenience whenever possible, that is why we sleep on the eve of battle or execution, and why ultimately we die when we can no longer bear the harsh light of existence. By Jose Saramago Automatically Body Acting Avoids Execution

Sometimes I do actually forget that the person to whom I owe that love is a real person, complete in himself, not someone who should make do with some rather diffuse emotion which gradually resigns itself to its own fatal vagueness, as if that were a fate against which there were no possible appeal ... By Jose Saramago Person Complete Vagueness Appeal Forget

Be useful, that's all you ever say to me. But how can I be useful?" "That's something you have to discover for yourself, like everything else in life. No one can give you advice about that. I'd really like toif I thought it would do any good." "And I'd like to know what you really mean." Silvestri smiled. "Don't worry. All I mean is that we won't become what we are meant to be in life by listening to other people's words or advice. We have to feel in our own flesh the wound that will make us into proper men. Then it's up to us to act ... By Jose Saramago Life Advice Discover Good Give

Cain considers life and can find no explanation for it, there is that woman, who although clearly sick with desire is enjoying postponing the moment of surrender, which is not at all the right word, because lilith, when she does finally open her legs to allow herself to be penetrated, will not be surrendering, but trying to devour the man to whom she said, Enter. By Jose Saramago Enter Cain Woman Surrender Word

There are such moments in life: one unexpectedly discovers that perfection exists, that it, too, is a tiny sphere traveling in time, empty, transparent, luminous, and which sometimes (rarely) comes in our direction and encircles us for a few brief moments before traveling on to other parts and other people. By Jose Saramago Empty Transparent Luminous Rarely Moments

No, there are three people in a marriage, there's the woman, there's the man, and there's what I call the third person, the most important, the person who is composed of the man and woman together. By Jose Saramago Man Woman Person Marriage Important

Most common thing in marriage is to see the man or the woman, or both, each in their own way, trying to destroy the third person that they form together, the one that resists, that wants to survive regardless, By Jose Saramago Woman Resists Common Thing Marriage

In matters of feeling and of the heart, too much is always better than too little. By Jose Saramago Heart Matters Feeling

The doctor's wife was not particularly keen on the tendency of proverbs to preach, nevertheless something of this ancient lore must have remained in her memory, the proof being that she filled two of the bags they had brought with beans and chick peas, Keep what is of no use at the moment, and later you will find what you need, one of her grandmothers had told her, the water in which you soak them will also serve to cook them, and whatever remains from the cooking will cease to be water, but will have become broth. It is not only in nature that from time to time not everything is lost and something is gained. By Jose Saramago Water Preach Memory Peas Moment

Why they were loaded with bags of beans and peas and anything else they happened to pick up when they were still some distance away from the street where the first blind man and his wife lived, for that is where they are going, is a question that could only occur to someone who has never in his life suffered shortages. By Jose Saramago Lived Shortages Loaded Bags Beans

Hard experience of life has shown us that, generally speaking, it is inadvisable to trust too much in human nature. By Jose Saramago Hard Generally Speaking Nature Experience

You do not know, you cannot know, what it means to have eyes in a world in which everyone else is blind, I am not a queen, no, I am simply the one who was born to see this horror, you can feel it, I both feel and see it. By Jose Saramago Feel Blind Queen Horror Eyes

Whether we like it or not, the one justification for the existence of all religions is death, they need death as much as we need bread to eat. By Jose Saramago Eat Death Justification Existence Religions

Sometimes we ask ourselves why happiness took so long to arrive, why it didn't come sooner, but appears suddenly, as now, when we've given up hope of it ever arriving, it's likely then that we won't know what to do, and rather than it being a question of choosing between laughter and tears, we will be filled by a secret anxiety to which we might not know how to respond at all. By Jose Saramago Arrive Sooner Suddenly Arriving Tears

Death is present every day in our lives. It's not that I take pleasure in the morbid fascination of it, but it is a fact of life. By Jose Saramago Death Lives Present Day Life

I am traveling less in order to be able to write more. I select my travel destinations according to their degree of usefulness to my work. By Jose Saramago Traveling Order Write Work Select

We know that it is the search that gives meaning to any find and that one often has to travel a long way in order to arrive at what is near. By Jose Saramago Search Meaning Find Travel Long

And yet experience, unless applied to something, is just like that hoard of gold, for it neither produces nor bears fruit and is utterly useless. By Jose Saramago Experience Gold Useless Applied Hoard

Earthenware is like people, it needs to be well treated. By Jose Saramago Earthenware People Treated

These earthenware bowls are fragile and easily broken, they are only made of a little clay on which fortune has precariously bestowed a shape, and the same could be said of mankind. By Jose Saramago Broken Shape Mankind Earthenware Bowls

I thought that in order to have got to where we are someone else must have been blind. By Jose Saramago Blind Thought Order

Just two tears. That's all life is worth. By Jose Saramago Tears Worth Life

There are plenty of reasons not to put up with the world as it is. By Jose Saramago Plenty Reasons Put World

I don't defend the idea of universal love. It has never existed and will never exist. By Jose Saramago Love Defend Idea Universal Exist

That is the dream of all novelists-that one of their characters will become 'somebody.' By Jose Saramago Dream Noveliststhat Characters

We all know, however, that the enormous weight of tradition, habit, and custom that occupies the greater part of our brain bears down pitilessly on the more brilliant and innovative ideas of which the remaining part is capable, and although it is true that, in some cases, this weight can balance the excesses and extravagances of the imagination that would lead us God knows where were they given free rein, it is equally true that it often has a way of subtly submitting what we believed to be our free will to unconscious tropisms, like a plant that does not know why it will always have to lean toward the side from which the light comes. By Jose Saramago True Weight Part Free God

From Spain expect only cold winds and cold wives.'" "Ah, so you don't think they get on, then? By Jose Saramago Spain Wives Cold Expect Winds

Jesus wiped his tears on the back of his hand, blew his nose, who knows where, and yes, there is no point spending the whole day here, the desert is what it is, it surrounds us, in some ways protects us, but when it comes to giving, it gives us nothing, it simply looks on, and when the sun suddenly clouds over, so that we find ourselves thinking, The sky mirrors our sorrow, we are being foolish, because the sky is quite impartial and neither rejoices in our happiness nor is cast down by our grief. By Jose Saramago Sky Jesus Hand Blew Nose

However hard he tried, he could never manage to make himself visible to human eyes and not because he can't, since for him nothing is impossible, it's simply that he wouldn't know what face to wear when introducing himself to the beings he supposedly created and who probably wouldn't recognize him anyway. There are those who say we're very fortunate that god chooses not to appear before us, because compared with the shock we would get were such a thing to happen, our fear of death would be mere child's play. Besides, all the many things that have been said about god and about death are nothing but stories, and this is just another one. By Jose Saramago Impossible Hard Manage Make Visible

He could see perfectly well that "it," his life, was leading nowhere, that he wss behaving like a miser who hoards gold simply for the pleasure of looking at it, except that in his case it wssn't gold but experience, which was the one thing he took from life. And yet experience, unless applied to something, is just like that hoard of gold, for it neither produces nor bears fruit and is utterly useless. There is no point in a man accumulating experience the way someone else might collect stamps. By Jose Saramago Life Wss Gold Experience Perfectly

He did all this with great concentration in order to keep his thoughts at bay, in order to let them in only one at a time, having first asked them what they contained, because you can't be too careful with thoughts, some present themselves to us with a cloying air of false innocence and then, when it's too late, reveal their true wicked selves. By Jose Saramago Order Thoughts Bay Time Contained

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. By Jose Saramago Day Life Stones Load Bring

Because each of you has his or her own death, you carry it with you in a secret place from the moment you're born, it belongs to you and you belong to it. By Jose Saramago Death Born Belongs Belong Carry

Confidential matters are not dealt with over the telephone, you'd better come here in person. I cannot leave the house, Do you mean you're ill, Yes, I'm ill, the blind man said after a pause. In that case you ought to call a doctor, a real doctor, quipped the functionary, and, delighted with his own wit, he rang off.The man's insolence was like a slap in the face. Only after some minutes had passed, had he regained enough composure to tell his wife how rudely he had been treated. Then, as if he had discovered something that he should have known a long time ago, he murmured sadly, This is the stuff we're made of, half indifference and half malice. By Jose Saramago Confidential Telephone Person Ill Matters

The church has never been asked to explain anything, our speciality, along with ballistics, has always been the neutralisation of the overly curious mind through faith. By Jose Saramago Speciality Ballistics Faith Church Asked

Not that this was our intention, but you know how it is with writing, one word often brings along another in its train simply because they sound good together, even if this means sacrificing respect for levity and ethics for aesthetics, if such solemn concepts are not out of place in a discourse such as this, and often to no one's advantage either. It is in this and other ways, almost without our realizing it, that we make so many enemies in life. By Jose Saramago Intention Writing Aesthetics Word Brings

Joao Elvas wrapped his cloak tightly around him, tucked up his legs as if he were still in his mother's womb, and snoozed in the warmth of the hay, which gave off a pleasant odour generated by the heat of his body. There are refined men and women, and sometimes not all that refined, who cannot bear such odours and who take great pains to cover any traces of their natural smell, and the day will come when artificial roses will be sprayed with the artificial scent of roses, and these refined souls will exclaim, How lovely they smell. By Jose Saramago Elvas Joao Tucked Womb Hay

The beginning is never the clear, precise end of a thread, the beginning is a long, painfully slow process that requires time and patience in order to find out in which direction it is heading, a process that feels its way along the path ahead like a blind man the beginning is just the beginning, what came before is nigh on worthless. By Jose Saramago Beginning Process Clear Precise Thread

In the various arts, and above all in that of writing, the shortest distance between two points, even if close to each other, has never been and never will be, nor is it now, what is known as a straight line, never, never, to put it strongly and emphatically in response to any doubts, to silence them once and for all. By Jose Saramago Arts Writing Points Line Doubts

Not only does the universe have its own laws, all of them indifferent to the contradictory dreams and desires of humanity, and in the formulation of which we contribute not one iota, apart, that is, from the words by which we clumsily name them, but everything seems to indicate that it uses these laws for aims and objectives that transcend and always will transcend our understanding. By Jose Saramago Laws Transcend Humanity Iota Understanding

Not everything is as it seems, and not everything that seems is. Between being and seeming there is always a point of agreement, as if being and seeming were two inclined planes that converge and become one. There is a slope and the possibility of sliding down that slope, and when that happens, one reaches a point at which being and seeming meet. By Jose Saramago Point Slope Agreement Inclined Planes

Every novel is like this, desperation, a frustrated attempt to save something of the past. Except that it still has not been established whether it is the novel that prevents man from forgetting himself or the impossibility of forgetfulness that makes him write novels. By Jose Saramago Desperation Past Frustrated Attempt Save

They always left the thermos full, ready for their return home. The five minutes devoted to that small late-night feast made them feel rather special, as if they had suddenly left the mediocrity of their lives behind them and risen a few rungs on the economic ladder. The kitchen disappeared and gave way to an intimate little drawing room with expensive furniture and paintings on the wall and a piano in one corner. By Jose Saramago Left Full Ready Home Thermos

Like everything else, words have their whys and wherefores. Some call to us solemnly, arrogantly, giving themselves airs, as if they were destined for great things, and then it turns out that they were nothing more than a breeze too light even to set the sail of a windmill moving, whereas other ordinary, habitual words, the sort you use every day, end up having consequences no one would have dared predict, they weren't born for that and yet they shook the world. By Jose Saramago Wherefores Words Arrogantly Solemnly Giving

He had grown so accustomed to feeling tired that he took a certain pleasure in it, the pleasure of someone who has given up, the pleasure of someone who, when the moment of truth arrives, turns back the clock and says: "It's too early." The pleasure of self-sacrifice. But sacrifice is only complete when it is kept hidden from view; making it visible is tantamount to saying, "Look at me, look how self-sacrificing I am," and making sure that the other people don't forget it. Therefore he had not yet given up entirely, and behind his resignation hope still lingered, just as the blue sky is always there behind the clouds. By Jose Saramago Pleasure Arrives Turns Early Grown

In the girl's room on the chest of drawers stood the glass vase with the withered flowers, the water had evaporated, it was there that her blind hands directed themselves, her fingers brushed against the dead petals, how fragile life is when it is abandoned. By Jose Saramago Flowers Evaporated Petals Abandoned Girl

Yes, My Son, man is a piece of wood, that can be used for everything, from the moment he's born until the moment he dies, he's always ready to obey, send him there and he goes, tell him to halt and he stops, tell him to turn back and he retreats, whether in peace or in war, man, generally speaking, is the best thing that could have happened to the gods, And the wood from which I'm made, since I'm a man, what use will it be put to, since I'm Your son, You will be the spoon I shall dip into humanity and bring out laden with men who shall believe in the new god I intend to become, Laden with men You will devour, There's no need for Me to devour those who devour themselves. By Jose Saramago Son Laden Moment Man Devour

The days are all the same, it's the hours that are different, when a day comes to an end it always does so with its twenty-four hours all present and correct, even when those hours contained nothing, but that's not the case with either your days or your hours By Jose Saramago Hours Correct Days End Twentyfour

he called out to the open sky, where God could be seen smiling, Men, forgive Him, for He knows not what He has done. By Jose Saramago Men God Sky Smiling Forgive

Beethoven was ugly too, and no woman ever loved him, and he was Beethoven! He didn't need to be loved in order to do what he did. He just needed to love and he did. By Jose Saramago Beethoven Loved Ugly Woman Order

We should be fully engaged with life, each individual should reach out beyond himself. Being merely present isn't enough. Being a mere witness is tantamount to being dead. That's what he meant to say. It doesn't matter if you stay in one spot, but your life should reach out if it is not to be a mere animal existence, By Jose Saramago Reach Fully Engaged Individual Mere

Perhaps she would finally ask him what the devil the Central Registry was up to going to so much trouble over one person, a woman of no importance, it would be an indecent lie, as well as arrant stupidity, to tell her that we are all equal in the eyes of the Central Registry, just as the sun is there for everyone each time it rises, there are things one should avoid saying to an older person if we don't want them to laugh in our faces. By Jose Saramago Central Registry Person Importance Lie

Contrary to what is generally believed, meaning and sense were never the same thing, meaning shows itself at once, direct, literal, explicit, enclosed in itself, univocal, if you like, while sense cannot stay still, it seethes with second, third and fourth senses, radiating out in different directions that divide and subdivide into branches and branchlets, until they disappear from view, the sense of every word is like a star hurling spring tides out into space, cosmic winds, magnetic perturbations, afflictions. By Jose Saramago Meaning Direct Literal Explicit Univocal

The much-quoted immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary occurred but once so that the world might know that Almighty God, when He so chooses, has no need of men, though He cannot dispense with women. By Jose Saramago God Virgin Mary Almighty Chooses

No, I've never been to Galicia, Galicia is the land of others By Jose Saramago Galicia Land

Though I had come into the world on 16 November 1922, my official documents show that I was born two days later, on the 18th. It was thanks to this petty fraud that my family escaped from paying the fine for not having registered my birth at the proper legal time. By Jose Saramago November World Official Documents Show

I know nothing about God, except that His pleasure is as terrifying as His displeasure. By Jose Saramago God Displeasure Pleasure Terrifying

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 By Jose Saramago Soundly Early Inclination Forced Rise

...the man who I still am loves the woman that you are By Jose Saramago Man Loves Woman

We can be only too grateful that an Archbishop of Braga should have immersed himself so deeply in theological speculation, armed and equipped as he was for war, with his coat of mail, his broadsword dangling from the By Jose Saramago Archbishop Braga Speculation Armed War

Being fired was the best luck of my life. It made me stop and reflect. It was the birth of my life as a writer. By Jose Saramago Life Fired Luck Reflect Writer

It will no longer be necessary to leave one's own home in order to find work in the surrounding districts, which means spending week after week away from home, for no matter how restless a fellow might be, his own home, if he has a wife he respects and children he loves, has the same satisfying taste as bread, a man's home is not for all hours, but he soon begins to miss it if he does not go back there every day. By Jose Saramago Home Week Districts Loves Bread

It takes little or nothing to undo reputations, the merest trifle makes and remakes them, it is simply a question of finding the best means of engaging the confidence or interest of those who are to become one's unsuspecting echoes or accomplices. By Jose Saramago Reputations Accomplices Undo Merest Trifle

the human body is also an organised system, it lives as long as it keeps organised, and death is only the effect of disorganisation, And how can a society of blind people organise itself in order to survive, By organising itself, to organise oneself is, in a way, to begin to have eyes By Jose Saramago Organised Organise System Disorganisation Survive

The first blind man had begun by declaring that his wife would not be subjected to the shame of giving her body to strangers in exchange for whatever, she had no desire to do so nor would he permit it, for dignity has no price, that when someone starts making small concessions, in the end live loses all meaning. The doctor then asked him what meaning he saw in the situation in which all of them there found themselves, starving, covered in filth up to their ears, ridden with lice, eaten by bedbugs, bitten by fleas, I, too, would prefer my wife not to go, but what I want serves no purpose, ... I know that my manly pride, this thing we call male pride, if after so many humiliations, we still preserve something worthy of that name, I know that it will suffer, it already is, I cannot avoid it, but it is probably the only solution, if we want to live. By Jose Saramago Price Concessions Wife Meaning Blind

Life is like that, full of words that are not worth saying or that were worth saying once but not any more, each word that we utter will take up the space of another more deserving word, not deserving in its own right, but because of the possible consequences of saying it. By Jose Saramago Worth Word Deserving Life Full

Repetitions almost always disappoint, the shine goes off them, they noticeably lack spontaneity, and if spontaneity is lacking, so is everything else. By Jose Saramago Repetitions Disappoint Lacking Spontaneity Shine

What is your name, Blind people do not need a name, I am my voice, nothing else matters, But you wrote books and those books carry your name, said the doctor's wife, Now nobody can read them, it is as if they did not exist. By Jose Saramago Blind Books Voice Matters Wife

Americans have discovered the fragility of life, that ominous fragility that the rest of the world either already experienced or is experiencing now with terrible intensity. By Jose Saramago Fragility Americans Life Intensity Discovered

I am the same person I was before receiving the Nobel Prize. I work with the same regularity, I have not modified my habits, I have the same friends. By Jose Saramago Prize Nobel Person Receiving Regularity

Unless Caesar Augustus is unwittingly complying with the will of God, if it is true that in His divine wisdom He has ordained that Joseph and Mary should go to Bethlehem at this time. By Jose Saramago God Caesar Augustus Joseph Mary

Unlike Joseph her husband, Mary is neither upright nor pious, but she is not blame for this, the blame lies with the language she speaks if not with the men who invented it, because that language has no feminine form for the words upright and pious. By Jose Saramago Pious Mary Joseph Upright Blame

Holding the lamb in his arms, Jesus watched the people file past, some coming, some going, some carrying animals to be sacrificed, some returning without them, looking joyful and exclaiming, Alleluia, Hosanna, Amen, or saying none of these things, feeling it was inappropriate to walk around shouting Hallelujah or Hip hip hurrah, because there is really not much difference between the two expressions, we use them enthusiastically until with the passage of time and by dint of repetition we finally ask ourselves, What does it mean, only to find there is no answer. By Jose Saramago Alleluia Hosanna Amen Hip Jesus

We have deemed all these words necessary in order to explain that we have been traveling more slowly than was predicted, concision is not a definitive virtue, on occasion one loses out by talking too much, it is true, but how much has also been gained by saying more than was strictly necessary. By Jose Saramago Predicted Concision Virtue True Deemed

You will become reconciled with legality and with that root of roots, the national community, returning, like the prodigal son, to the paternal home. You are now a lawless city. You will not have a government to tell you what you should and should not do, how you should and should not behave, the streets will be yours, they belong to you, use them as you wish, there will be no authority to stop you in your tracks and offer you sound advice, but equally, and listen carefully to my words, there will be no authority to protect you from thieves, rapists and murderers, that will be your freedom, and may you enjoy it. By Jose Saramago Returning Root Roots Community Son

Very few people are aware that in each of our fingers, located somewhere between the firs phalange, the mesophalange and the metaphalange, there is a tiny brain. [ ... ] It should be noted that fingers are without brains, these develop gradually with the passage of time and with the help of what the eyes see ... That is why the fingers have always excelled at uncovering what is concealed. By Jose Saramago Fingers Located Phalange Metaphalange People

There might be a problem, What is that, Minister, We shall find ourselves obliged to put staff there to supervise the transfers, and I doubt whether we will be able to count on volunteers, I doubt whether that will be necessary, Minister, Why, Should anyone suspected of infection turn blind, as will naturally happen sooner or later, you may be sure, Minister, that the others who still have their sight, will turn him out at once, You're right, Just as they would not allow in any blind person who suddenly felt like changing places, Good thinking, Thank you, Minister, may I give orders to proceed, Yes, you have carte blanche. By Jose Saramago Minister Doubt Good Turn Blind

I don't quite grasp your meaning.Just as I don't quite understand what I am saying. But back to the point ... . By Jose Saramago Grasp Meaningjust Understand Point Back

Men are angels born without wings, nothing could be nicer than to be born without wings and to make them grow. By Jose Saramago Born Wings Men Grow Angels

Old photographs are very deceiving, they give us the illusion that we are alive in them, and it's not true, the person we are looking at no longer exists, and if that person could see us, he or she would not recognise him or herself in us, 'Who's that looking at me so sadly,' he or she would say. By Jose Saramago Person Deceiving True Exists Sadly

If, before every action, we were to begin by weighing up the consequences, thinking about them in earnest, first the immediate consequences, then the probable, then the possible, then the imaginable ones, we should never move beyond the point where our first thought brought us to a halt. The good and evil resulting from our words and deeds go on apportioning themselves, one assumes in a reasonably uniform and balanced way, throughout all the days to follow, including those endless days, when we shall not be here to find out, to congratulate ourselves or ask for pardon, indeed there are those who claim that this is the much talked of immortality. By Jose Saramago Consequences Action Thinking Earnest Probable

One cannot be too careful with words, they change their minds just as people do. By Jose Saramago Words Careful Change Minds People

Given the behaviour of human beings throughout the ages, they do not deserve life, with its many dark sides, in all its beauty, grandeur and magnificence ... By Jose Saramago Ages Life Sides Beauty Grandeur

The moral conscience that so many thoughtless people have offended against and many more have rejected, is something that exists and has always existed. It was not an invention of the philosophers of the Quartenary, when the soul was little more than a muddled proposition. With the passing of time, as well as then social evolution and genetic exchange, we ended up putting our conscience in the colour of blood and in the salt of tears, and, as if that were not enough, we made our eyes into a kind of mirror turned inwards, with the result that they often show without reserve what we are verbally trying to deny. Add to this general observation, the particular circumstance that in simple spirits, the remorse caused by committing some evil act often becomes confused with ancestral fears of every kind, and the result will be that the punishment of the prevaricator ends up being, without mercy or pity, twice what he deserved. By Jose Saramago Rejected Existed Conscience Moral Thoughtless

Authoritarian, paralyzing, circular, occasionally elliptical stock phrases, also jocularly referred to as nuggets of wisdom, are a malignant plague, one of the very worst ever to ravage the earth. By Jose Saramago Authoritarian Paralyzing Circular Occasionally Phrases

The chronicler would abandon any idea of making a detailed report of all the other ills that are afflicting most of the nearly three hundred inmates being kept in this inhumane quarantine, but he could not fail to mention at least two cases of fairly advanced cancer, for the authorities had no humanitarian scruples when rounded up the blind and confining them here, they even stated that the laws once made is the same for everyone and that democracy is incompatible with preferential treatment. As cruel fate would have it, amongst all these inmates there is only one doctor, and an ophthalmologist at that, the last thing we need. By Jose Saramago Inmates Quarantine Cancer Treatment Chronicler

One could argue that those who have abandoned their homes do not deserve to live there and enjoy them By Jose Saramago Argue Abandoned Homes Deserve Live

The threat of rain appears to have nothing to do with Joao Elvas's desire to be alone, and one must not forget that, strange as it may seem, some men can spend their entire life alone and enjoy solitude, especially if it is raining and their crust is hard. By Jose Saramago Joao Elvas Strange Solitude Hard

BESIDES THE CONVERSATION of women, it is dreams that keep the world in orbit. But dreams also form a diadem of moons, therefore the sky is that splendour inside a man's head, if his head is not, in fact, his own unique sky. By Jose Saramago Conversation Women Orbit Dreams World

A human being is a being who is constantly 'under construction,' but also, in a parallel fashion, always in a state of constant destruction. By Jose Saramago Constantly Construction Fashion Destruction Human

people's lives could also be told from front to back, one could wait until they ended and then, gradually, follow the stream back to the source, identifying the tributaries on the way and sailing up them too, aware that each one, even the smallest and feeblest, was, in its time and in itself, a major river, and in this slow, deliberate way, alert to every scintillation on the surface of the water, every bubble risen from the bottom, every sudden downward flurry, every stagnant stillness, reach the end of the narrative and place after the first of all moments the final full stop, and to take the same amount of time that the lives thus told had actually lasted. By Jose Saramago Lives Told Back Time Gradually

Our god, the creator of heaven and earth, is completely mad By Jose Saramago God Earth Mad Creator Heaven

When I get to the end of what I'm saying, I have to believe in my having said it, that's often all that's needed just as water, flour, and yeast make bread. By Jose Saramago Flour Water Bread End Needed

In the end, I am quite normal. I don't have odd habits. I don't dramatize. Above all, I do not romanticize the act of writing. I don't talk about the anguish I suffer in creating. I do not have a fear of the blank page, writer's block, all those things that we hear about writers. By Jose Saramago End Normal Habits Odd Dramatize

All the great sadnesses, great temptations, and great mistakes are almost always the result of being alone in life, without a prudent friend to advise us when we are troubled by something more serious than our normal everyday problems. By Jose Saramago Great Sadnesses Temptations Life Problems

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. By Jose Saramago Home Lisbon Books Learn Refined

All stories are like those about the creation of the universe, no one was there, no one witnessed anything, yet everyone knows what happened. By Jose Saramago Universe Happened Stories Creation Witnessed

The distribution of tasks among the various employees follows a simple rule, which is that the duty of the members of each category is to do as much work as they possibly can, so that only a small part of that work need be passed to the category above. This means that the clerks are obliged to work without cease from morning to night, whereas the senior clerks do so only now and then, the deputies very rarely, and the Registrar almost never. By Jose Saramago Category Work Rule Distribution Tasks

This is the way fate usually treats us, it's right there behind us, it has already reached out a hand to touch us on the shoulder while we're still muttering to ourselves, It's all over, that's it, who cares anyhow. By Jose Saramago Fate Treats Reached Hand Touch

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. By Jose Saramago Turns Cars Prepared Traffic Windows

We have been forced to watch, powerless, the rebels' brilliant tactic of helping our voters to move all their useless junk back into their apartments, that, gentlemen, could only be the brainchild of some machiavellian mastermind, By Jose Saramago Powerless Gentlemen Watch Apartments Mastermind

Without the faintest possibility of finding a job, I decided to devote myself to literature: it was about time to find out what I was worth as a writer. By Jose Saramago Job Literature Writer Faintest Possibility

Human vocabulary is still not capable, and probably never will be, of knowing, recognizing, and communicating everything that can be humanly experienced and felt. By Jose Saramago Recognizing Human Capable Knowing Felt

Even death, faced with the option of death or life, she would choose life. By Jose Saramago Life Faced Death Option Choose

There is relationship between sight and touch, something about eyes being able to see through the fingers touching the clay, about fingers being able to feel what the eyes are seeing without the fingers actually touching it. By Jose Saramago Fingers Eyes Touching Touch Clay

Who is that witch, asked the old man with the black eyepatch, these are things we say when we do not know how to take a good look at ourselves, had he lived as she had lived, we should like to see how long his civilised ways would last. By Jose Saramago Lived Witch Asked Eyepatch Man

It's ridiculous to throw away the present just because you're afraid there might not be a future, she said to herself, adding, Besides, not everything will necessarily happen tomorrow, some things will happen only the day after tomorrow By Jose Saramago Adding Tomorrow Future Happen Ridiculous

Such insignificant differences as a few hundred years here or there were the motive for long, long controversies, both public and academic, which almost always resulted in the violent breakup of personal relationships and even in mortal enmities. By Jose Saramago Controversies Academic Enmities Long Insignificant

Put less respectfully, these men and women, standing before the mirror of their life, spit every day in the face of what they were with the sputum of what they are. By Jose Saramago Put Respectfully Women Standing Life

I believe myself to be the type of person who does not complicate his life. I have always lived my life without dramatizing things, whether the good things that have happened to me or the bad. I simply live those moments. By Jose Saramago Life Type Person Complicate Things

The will of God, the creator and ruler of the universe, embraces all possible wills, His own as well as that of every man born into this world. If this is so, intervened Jesus with sudden insight, then each man is a part of God. By Jose Saramago God Universe Embraces World Man

The painter paints, the musician makes music, the novelist writes novels. But I believe that we all have some influence, not because of the fact that one is an artist, but because we are citizens. As citizens, we all have an obligation to intervene and become involved, it's the citizen who changes things. I can't imagine myself outside any kind of social or political involvement. By Jose Saramago Paints Music Painter Musician Makes

There are such moments in life, when, in order for heaven to open, it is necessary for a door to close. By Jose Saramago Life Open Close Moments Order

since all the others there were blind as well, what good would it do her to have beautiful bright eyes such as these if there is no one to see them. The doctor's wife said, We all have our moments of weakness, just as well that we are still capable of weeping, tears are often our salvation, there are times when we would die if we did not weep By Jose Saramago Blind Good Beautiful Bright Eyes

Words that come from the heart are never spoken, they get caught in the throat and can only be read in ones's eyes. By Jose Saramago Words Spoken Eyes Heart Caught

This was probably my biggest mistake: to think that the truth could be captured externally and simply with one's eyes, to imagine a truth exists which can be grasped at once and thereafter remain still and at peace, just like a statue, a truth which contracts and expands depending on the temperature, a truth which eventually erodes, not only modifying the surrounding space but subtly altering thhe composition of the ground on which it stands, shedding minute particles of marble, just as we shed hairs, nail clippings, saliva and the words we speak. By Jose Saramago Truth Mistake Eyes Peace Statue

The world had already changed before September 11. The world has been going through a process of change over the last 20 or 30 years. A civilization ends, another one begins. By Jose Saramago September World Changed Years Ends

A man must earn his daily bread by some means some-where, and if his bread fails to nourish his soul, at least his body will be nourished while his soul suffers. By Jose Saramago Soul Bread Somewhere Suffers Man

I don't doubt that a man can live perfectly well on his own, but I'm convinced that he begins to die as soon as he closes the door of his house behind him. By Jose Saramago Doubt Man Live Perfectly Convinced

Hen he added, as if requiring a response to his own remark,'Probably the greater the difference, the greater the similarity, and the greater the similarity, the greater the difference,' at that moment he did not yet know how right he was. By Jose Saramago Greater Difference Similarity Hen Added

Jesus lies on his back, holding the end of the cord to prevent the lamb from escaping, an unnecessary precaution, the poor animal has no strength, not only because of its tender age but also because of all the excitement, the constant motion back and forth, not to mention the meager food it was given this morning, for it is considered neither fitting nor decent for anyone, lamb or martyr, to die with a full belly. By Jose Saramago Back Lamb Jesus Holding Escaping

The virtue of maps, they show what can be done with limited space, they foresee that everything can happen therein. By Jose Saramago Maps Space Virtue Show Limited

Now, on the contrary, here he was , plunged into a whiteness so luminous, so total, that it swallowed up rather than absorbed, not just colours, but the very things and beings , thus making them twice as invisible By Jose Saramago Contrary Plunged Luminous Total Absorbed

It just isn't possible for you to ask me all the questions, or for me to give you all the answers. By Jose Saramago Questions Answers Give

Images don't see, You're wrong, images see with the eyes of those who see them, By Jose Saramago Images Wrong Eyes

Three can eat as cheaply as two, the well-known arithmetic of resignation in any family where a child is expected, now one can say with even greater authority, Ten million can eat as cheaply as five, and with a quiet smile, A nation is nothing but a great big family. By Jose Saramago Eat Cheaply Ten Family Expected

We would understand much more about life's complexities if we applied ourselves to an assiduous study of its contradictions, instead of wasting time on identities and coherences, seeing as these have a duty to provide their own explanations. By Jose Saramago Contradictions Coherences Explanations Understand Life

his career had just taken a great leap forward, he was going to pee in his chief's toilet. By Jose Saramago Forward Toilet Career Great Leap

A man was on his way to the gallows when he met another, who asked him: where are you going, my friend? and the condemned man replied: i'm not going anywhere. they're taking me by force. By Jose Saramago Friend Replied Man Gallows Met

We confidently say that it's not worth trying to reach any conclusions merely because we decide to stop halfway along the path that would lead us straight to them. By Jose Saramago Confidently Worth Reach Conclusions Decide

He went plof and vanished. Onomatopoeia can be so very handy. Imagine if we'd had to provide a detailed description of someone disappearing. It would have taken us at least ten pages. Plof. By Jose Saramago Vanished Plof Onomatopoeia Handy Imagine

With the passing of time, as well as the social evolution and genetic exchange, we ended up putting our conscience in the colour of blood and in the salt of tears, and, as if that were not enough, we made our eyes into a kind of mirror turned inwards, with the result that they often show without reserve what we are verbally trying to deny. By Jose Saramago Time Exchange Tears Deny Passing

News of the miracle had reached the doge's palace, but in a somewhat garbled form. the result of the successive transmissions of facts, true or assumed, real or purely imaginary, based on everything from partial, more or less eyewitness accounts to reports from those who simply liked the sound of their own voice, for, as we know all too well, no one telling a story can resist adding a period, and sometimes even a comma. By Jose Saramago Palace Form Miracle Reached Doge

You might think that after all the shameful capitulations made by the government during the ups and downs of their negotiations with the maphia ... they could sink no lower. Alas, when one advances blindly across the boggy ground of realpolitik, when pragmatism takes up the baton and conducts the orchestra, ignoring what is written in the score, you can be pretty sure that, as the imperative logic of dishonor will show, there are still, after all, a few more steps to descend. By Jose Saramago Maphia Shameful Capitulations Made Government

In this case, consulting the dictionary would simply mean discovering what one already knew, Dictionaries only provide information that is likely to be useful to everyone By Jose Saramago Dictionaries Case Consulting Knew Dictionary

A journey never ends. Only the travellers end. By Jose Saramago Journey Ends End Travellers

It's all words and only words, and beyond the words there's nothing ... a word, which, like all the others, can only be explained by more words, but since the words we use to explain things, successfully or not, will, in turn, have to be explained, our conversation will lead nowhere, the mistaken and the true will alternate, like some kind of curse, and we'll never know what's right and what's wrong. - subhro, the mahout, Pg. 49 By Jose Saramago Words Explained Word Things Successfully

Dignity has no price, when someone starts making small concessions, in the end, life loses all meaning. By Jose Saramago Dignity Price Concessions End Life

The wisest man I ever knew in my whole life could not read or write. By Jose Saramago Write Wisest Man Knew Life

Ah, in every age there is always some new wonder to astound mankind until they grow accustomed to it and lose interest. By Jose Saramago Interest Age Astound Mankind Grow

The past is an immense area of stony ground that many people would like to drive across as if it were a motorway, while others move patiently from stone to stone, lifting each one because they need to know what lies beneath. By Jose Saramago Stone Motorway Lifting Beneath Past

The angel told her, An honest man who committed a crime, you have no idea how many honest men have committed crimes, their crimes are countless, and contrary to popular belief these are the only crimes that cannot be forgiven. By Jose Saramago Crimes Honest Committed Countless Forgiven

Lovers of concision, laconicism and economy of language will doubtless be asking, if the idea is such a simple one, why did we need all this waffle to arrive, at last, at the critical point. By Jose Saramago Lovers Concision Laconicism Arrive Point

Yes, possibly, but I can guarantee you that if I were god, I would repeat every day Blessed are those who choose sedition because theirs is the kingdom of the earth, By Jose Saramago Possibly Blessed God Earth Guarantee

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. By Jose Saramago Time Exchange Tears Passage Social

but the effort of setting the table, heating up the food and then washing the dishes seemed to him tonight a superhuman one. By Jose Saramago Table Heating Effort Setting Food

The world is governed by institutions that are not democratic - the World Bank, the IMF, the WTO. By Jose Saramago World Bank Imf Wto Democratic

Contrary to what most people think, making a decision is one of the easiest decisions in the world, as is more than proved by the fact that we make decision upon decision throughout the day, there, however, we run straight into the heart of the matter, for these decisions always come to us afterward with their particular little problems, or, to make ourselves quite clear, with their rough edges needing to be smoothed, the first of these problems being our capacity for sticking to a decision and the second our willingness to follow it through. By Jose Saramago Decision Make Problems Decisions Contrary

I consider books to be good for our health, and also our spirits, and they help us to become poets or scientists, to understand the stars or else to discover them deep within the aspirations of certain characters, those who sometimes, on certain evenings, escape from the pages and walk among us humans, perhaps the most human of us all. By Jose Saramago Health Spirits Scientists Characters Evenings

There are certain words that draw back, that refuse to be uttered, because they are too laden with significance for our word-weary ears. By Jose Saramago Back Uttered Ears Words Draw

You love me because you see me every day. You don't love me for who I am, you love me because of what I do or don't do. You don't know who I am. By Jose Saramago Love Day

I was born in a family of landless peasants, in Azinhaga, a small village in the province of Ribatejo, on the right bank of the Almonda River, around a hundred kilometres north-east of Lisbon. By Jose Saramago Azinhaga Ribatejo River Lisbon Almonda

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. By Jose Saramago Time Cards Wait Give Rules

Human beings are known universally as the only animals capable of lying, and while it is true that they sometimes lie out of fear and sometimes out of self-interest, they also occasionally lie because they realize, just in time, that this is the only means available to them of defending the truth. By Jose Saramago Lie Human Lying Selfinterest Realize

Let him who has not a single speck of migration to blot his family escutcheon cast the first stone ... if you didn't migrate then your father did, and if your father didn't need to move from place to place, then it was only because your grandfather before him had no choice but to go, put his old life behind him in search of the bread that his own land denied him ... By Jose Saramago Stone Father Single Speck Migration

Abstention means you stayed at home or went to the beach. By casting a blank vote, you're saying you have a political conscience but you don't agree with any of the existing parties. By Jose Saramago Abstention Beach Stayed Home Vote

And now we shall also die of blindness, I mean, we shall die of blindness and cancer, of blindness and tuberculosis, of blindness and AIDS, of blindness and heart attacks, illnesses may differ from one person to another but what is really killing us now is blindness By Jose Saramago Blindness Aids Die Cancer Tuberculosis

Blindness is a private matter between a person and the eyes with which he or she was born. By Jose Saramago Blindness Born Private Matter Person

The good and the evil resulting from our words and deeds go on apportioning themselves, one assumes in a reasonably uniform and balanced way, throughout all the days to follow, including those endless days, when we shall not be here to find out, to congratulate ourselves or ask for pardon, indeed there are those who claim that this is the much-talked-of immortality, Possibly, but this man is dead and must be buried. By Jose Saramago Possibly Immortality Days Follow Including

Can you imagine what Bush would say if someone like Hugo Chavez asked him for a little piece of land to install a military base, and he only wanted to plant a Venezuelan flag there? By Jose Saramago Bush Hugo Chavez Venezuelan Base

Words are like that, they deceive, they pile up, it seems they do not know where to go, and, suddenly, because of two or three or four that suddenly come out, simple in themselves, a personal pronoun, an adverb, an adjective, we have the excitement of seeing them coming irresistibly to the surface through the skin and the eyes and upsetting the composure of our feelings, sometimes the nerves that can not bear it any longer, they put up with a great deal, they put up with everything, it was as if they were wearing armor, we might say. By Jose Saramago Put Suddenly Words Deceive Simple

No human being can achieve all he or she desires in this life except in dreams, so good night all. By Jose Saramago Dreams Human Achieve Desires Life

Don't let the devil hear you, minister, The devil has such good hearing he doesn't need things to be spoken out loud, Well, god help us then, There's no point asking him for help either, he was born stone-deaf. By Jose Saramago Minister Devil Loud God Stonedeaf

I can explain, There's no need, I've been keeping regular track of your activities, and, besides, your notebook has been a great help to me, may I take the opportunity to congratulate you on the excellent style and the appropriateness of the language, I'll hand in my resignation tomorrow, I won't accept it. By Jose Saramago Explain Activities Language Tomorrow Keeping

We all have our moments of weakness, just as well that we are still capable of weeping, tears are often our salvation, there are times when we would die if we did not weep - Blindness By Jose Saramago Blindness Weakness Weeping Tears Salvation

People live with the illusion that we have a democratic system, but it's only the outward form of one. In reality we live in a plutocracy, a government of the rich. By Jose Saramago People System Live Illusion Democratic

That night there was no conversation, no prayers or stories around the fire, as if the proximity of Jerusalem demanded respectful silence, each man searching his heart and asking, Who is this person who resembles me yet whom I fail to recognize. This is not what they actually said, for people do not start talking to themselves like that, nor was this even in their conscious thoughts, but there can be no doubt that as we sit staring into the flames of a camp fire, our silence can be expressed only with words like these, which say everything. By Jose Saramago Jerusalem Fire Conversation Recognize Silence

God, the devil, good, evil, it's all in our heads, not in Heaven or Hell, which we also invented. We do not realize that, having invented God, we immediately became His slaves. By Jose Saramago Hell Good Evil God Heaven

But why sacrifice Your own son's life for so little, surely all You have to do is send a prophet. The time when people listened to prophets has passed, nowadays one must administer stronger medicine, shock treatment, to touch men's hearts and stir their feelings. Such as a son of God hanging from a cross. Yes, why not. By Jose Saramago Surely Sacrifice Life Send Son

It is an unwavering rule for those in power that, when it comes to heads, it is best to cut them off before they start thinking, afterwards, it might be too late. By Jose Saramago Heads Thinking Late Unwavering Rule

Having is not the same as owning. You can have even those things you don't want. Owning means having and enjoying the things you have. He had a home, a wife and a son, but none of them was truly his. He only had himself, but even then not entirely. By Jose Saramago Things Owning Home Son Enjoying

In general, fakirs, like scribes and potters, are sitting down, when he's standing up, a fakir is just like an other man, and sitting down, he'll be smaller than the others By Jose Saramago Sitting General Potters Man Scribes

How can you not know?" Silvestri said again. "Has twelve years of living the way you've been living not shown you how badly people live? The poverty, the hunger, the ignorance, the fear?" "Yes, but times have changed ... " "Yes, times have changed, but people haven't. By Jose Saramago Changed Living Times People Silvestri

We know that happiness is short-lived, that we fail to cherish it when it is within our grasp and value it only when it has vanished forever. By Jose Saramago Shortlived Forever Happiness Fail Cherish

[ ... ]certainly not one of them would have known what to reply if they had been asked, Why are you holding hands as you go, it simply came about, there are gestures for which we cannot always find an easy explanation, sometimes not even a difficult one can be found. By Jose Saramago Asked Explanation Found Reply Holding

Yet human experience and the practice of communication have shown throughout the ages that definitions are an illusion, like having a speech defect and trying to say love but unable to get the word out, or, better, having a tongue in one's head but unable to feel love. By Jose Saramago Unable Love Illusion Human Experience

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. By Jose Saramago Appreciated Positive Literature Heroes Doubt

Human nature is, by definition, a talkative one, imprudent, indiscreet, gossipy, incapable of closing its mouth and keeping it closed. By Jose Saramago Imprudent Indiscreet Gossipy Human Definition

Pommel of his saddle and his helmet with a nose-piece, arms which might well prevent him from reaching any conclusions based on humanitarian logic, By Jose Saramago Pommel Nosepiece Arms Logic Saddle

I can't imagine myself outside any kind of social or political involvement. Yes, I'm a writer, but I live in this world, and my writing doesn't exist on a separate level. And if people know who I am and read my books, well, good; that way, if I have something more to say, then everyone benefits. By Jose Saramago Involvement Imagine Kind Social Political

It's odd how lightly people speak about the future, as if they held it in their hand, as if it was in their power to push it further off or bring it nearer in accordance with the needs and expediencies of the moment. By Jose Saramago Future Hand Moment Odd Lightly

There are those who deny me the right to speak of God, because I am not a believer. And I say that I have every right in the world. I want to talk about God because it is a problem that affects all humanity. By Jose Saramago God Believer Deny Speak World

I am a person with leftist convictions, and always have been. By Jose Saramago Convictions Person Leftist

Today's bread does not eliminate yesterday's hunger, much less that of tomorrow. By Jose Saramago Today Hunger Tomorrow Bread Eliminate

Finding these events set down in the history book did not change her mind in the least, all the textbook did was collect together the free-flowing fantasies of the person who had written it, and there was clearly little difference between those fantasies and the ones you could find in a novel. By Jose Saramago Fantasies Finding Events Set History

Whether in peace or in war, man generally speaking is the best thing that ever happened to the gods. By Jose Saramago War Man Gods Peace Generally

Casting a ballot is your irrevocable right, and no one will ever deny you that right, but just as you tell children not to play with matches, so we warn whole peoples of the dangers of playing with dynamite. By Jose Saramago Casting Matches Dynamite Ballot Irrevocable

your God is the only warden of a prison where the only prisoner is your God. By Jose Saramago God Warden Prison Prisoner

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. By Jose Saramago Propose People World Transform Novelist

The only miracle we can perform is to go on living, said the woman, to preserve the fragility of life from day to day, as if it were blind and did not know where to go, and perhaps it is like that, perhaps it really does not know, it placed itself in our hands, after giving us intelligence. By Jose Saramago Day Living Woman Hands Intelligence

Let's hope it isn't fever, she thought. It couldn't be, more likely some infinite weariness, a longing to curl up inside herself, her eyes, especially her eyes, turned inwards, more, more, more, until they could reach and observe inside her own brain, there where the difference between seeing and not seeing is invisible to the naked eye. By Jose Saramago Fever Thought Eyes Hope Inside

That's how life should be, when one person loses heart, the other must have heart and courage enough for both. By Jose Saramago Heart Life Person Loses Courage

Words were not given to man in order to conceal his thoughts By Jose Saramago Words Thoughts Man Order Conceal

Time is a master of ceremonies who always ends up putting us in our rightful place, we advance, stop, and retreat according to his orders, our mistake lies in imagining that we can catch him out. By Jose Saramago Stop Time Place Advance Orders

No one has an obligation to love anyone else, but we are all under an obligation to respect each other. According to this logic, Saramago considered By Jose Saramago Obligation Love Respect Saramago Logic

I always ask two questions: How many countries have military bases in the United States? And in how many countries does the United States not have military bases? By Jose Saramago United States Military Questions Countries

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. By Jose Saramago Worth Explaining Character Nose Chin

A letter is a most hazardous business, the written word allows no indecision, either distance or familiarity will emphasize the tone the letter establishes, and you end up with a relationship that is fiction By Jose Saramago Letter Business Indecision Establishes Fiction

But it is also true, if this brings her any consolation, that if, before every action, we were to begin weighing up the consequences, thinking about them in earnest, first the immediate consequences, then the probably, then the possible, then the imaginable ones, we should never move beyond the point where our first thought brought us to a halt. By Jose Saramago Consequences True Consolation Action Thinking

What torments people have to go through when they leave the safety of their homes to become embroiled in mad adventures. By Jose Saramago Adventures Torments People Leave Safety

Events went on to show that it is not by chance that a prime minister reaches such lofty heights and that, as the infallible wisdom of nations has demonstrated time and time again, each country gets the government it deserves, although it must be said that while it is true to say that prime ministers, for good or ill, are not all the same, it is no less true to say, are all countries. By Jose Saramago Prime True Time Events Deserves

Virtue, should there be anyone who still ignores the fact, always finds pitfalls on the extremely difficult path of perfection, but sin and vice are so favoured by fortune ... By Jose Saramago Virtue Fact Perfection Fortune Ignores

Don't lose yourself, don't let yourself be lost, he said, and these were unexpected, enigmatic words that did not seem to fit the occasion. By Jose Saramago Lost Unexpected Enigmatic Occasion Lose

Do you mean that we have more words than we need, I mean that we have too few feelings, Or that we have them but have ceased to use the words they express, And so we lose them By Jose Saramago Words Feelings Express Ceased Lose

Writer's make national literature, while translators make universal literature. By Jose Saramago Literature Writer Make National Translators

The time for miracles has either passed or not come yet, besides, miracles, genuine miracles, whatever people say, are not such a good idea, if it means destroying the very order of things in order to improve them. By Jose Saramago Miracles Genuine Idea Order Time

No one is just one person, you, for example, are both cain and abel, And you, Oh, I am all women, and all their names are mine, said lilith, By Jose Saramago Person Abel Women Mine Lilith

The final notes of the funeral march dropped like violets onto the tomb of the hero By Jose Saramago Hero Final Notes Funeral March

This is neither the time nor the place, however, to ponder how often the soul, in order to be able to boast of a clean body, has burdened itself with sadness, envy, and impurity. By Jose Saramago Envy Place Soul Body Sadness

The minds of human beings are not always entirely at one with the world in which they live, some people have trouble adjusting to reality, basically they're just weak, confused spirits who use words, sometimes very skillfully, to justify their cowardice. By Jose Saramago Live Reality Basically Weak Confused

It's love," thought Abel, "it's love that gives them this calmness, this peace. And suddenly he was gripped by a violent desire to love, to give himself, to find the red flower of love growing in his arid life. By Jose Saramago Abel Love Thought Calmness Peace

Chaos is merely order waiting to be deciphered By Jose Saramago Chaos Deciphered Order Waiting

Age carries with it a double load of guilt By Jose Saramago Age Guilt Carries Double Load

I write to try to understand, and because I have nothing better to do. By Jose Saramago Understand Write

Indeed, very few people are aware that in each of our fingers, located somewhere between the first phalange, the mesophalange, and the metaphalange, there is a tiny brain. The fact is that the other organ which we call the brain, the one with which we came into the world, the one which we transport around in our head and which transports us so that we can transport it, has only ever had very general, vague, diffuse and, above all, unimaginative ideas about what the hands and fingers should do. For example, if the brain-in-our-head suddenly gets an idea for a painting, a sculpture, a piece of music or literature, or a clay figurine, it simply sends a signal to that effect and then waits to see what will happen By Jose Saramago Brain Fingers Located Phalange Mesophalange

As my cat would say, all hours are good for sleeping. By Jose Saramago Sleeping Cat Hours Good

The angel muttered, Oh, no, a rationalist, By Jose Saramago Muttered Rationalist Angel

what is right and what is wrong are simply different ways of understanding our relationships with the others, not that which we have with ourselves By Jose Saramago Wrong Simply Understanding Relationships

News is nothing but words, and you can never really tell if words are news. By Jose Saramago Words

Here are times when it is best to be content with what one has, so as not to lose everything. By Jose Saramago Times Content Lose

The best way of killing a rose is to force it open when it is still only the promise of a bud. By Jose Saramago Bud Killing Rose Force Open

It is an unvarying rule for those in power that, when it comes to heads, it is best to cut them off before they start to think, afterward, it might be too late. By Jose Saramago Afterward Heads Late Unvarying Rule

Liking is probably the best form of ownership, and ownership the worst form of liking. By Jose Saramago Form Liking Ownership Worst

Oh, I'm not just going too far, I've arrived. By Jose Saramago Arrived

we shall no longer know who we are, or even remember our names By Jose Saramago Longer Remember

The mustiness that permeated the apartment, its whole subterranean atmosphere, was redolent of an abandoned tomb. By Jose Saramago Apartment Atmosphere Tomb Mustiness Permeated

Each part in itself constitutes the whole to which it belongs. By Jose Saramago Belongs Part Constitutes

Time and time again one has seen how stories get exaggerated in the telling. By Jose Saramago Telling Time Stories Exaggerated

Because, sir, in case you don't know it, words move, they change from one day to the next, they are as unstable as shadows, are themselves shadows, which both are and have ceased to be, soap bubbles, shells in which one can barely hear a whisper, mere tree stumps. By Jose Saramago Shadows Sir Words Move Soap

Have you ever wondered if death is the same for all living beings, be they animals, human beings included, or plants, from the grass you walk on to the hundred-meter-tall sequoiadendron giganteum, will the death that kills a man who knows he's going to die be the same as that of a horse who never will. By Jose Saramago Death Animals Human Included Plants

Doubt is the privilege of those who have lived a long time, By Jose Saramago Doubt Time Privilege Lived Long

Blindness is also this, to live in a world where all hope is gone. By Jose Saramago Blindness Live World Hope

God does not forgive the sins He makes us commit. By Jose Saramago God Commit Forgive Sins Makes

I think that after all it might be better to leave things as they are By Jose Saramago Leave Things

Things will be very bad for Latin America. You only have to consider the ambitions and the doctrines of the empire, which regards this region as its backyard. By Jose Saramago America Latin Things Bad Empire

Words have their own hierarchy, their own protocol, their own artistic titles, their own plebeian stigmas. By Jose Saramago Words Hierarchy Protocol Titles Stigmas

Stretching one arm behind him, the man passed his hand over the horse's coat, his own skin transformed, or skin which had transformed into him. ("The Centaur") By Jose Saramago Skin Transformed Stretching Coat Arm

Consciences keep silence more often than they should, that's why laws were created. By Jose Saramago Consciences Created Silence Laws

The map they are using does not indicate the village of Orce, how very inconsiderate on the part of the cartographers, I'll bet they didn't forget to indicate their own hometowns, in future they should remember how vexing it is for someone to check out his birthplace on a map only to find a blank space, this has given rise to the gravest of problems for those trying to establish personal and national identities. By Jose Saramago Orce Map Cartographers Hometowns Space

the thing separating them was only a door and not a wall. He said nothing, merely nodded and thought to himself that worse than any wall is a door to which one has never had the key, a key he didn't know where to find, or even if it existed. By Jose Saramago Door Wall Thing Separating Key

Slaves exist to serve us, perhaps we should open them up to see if they carry slaves inside, or open up a monarch to see if he has another monarch in his belly, I'll bet if we met the devil and he allowed us to open him up, we might be surprised to find God jumping out. By Jose Saramago Open God Slaves Monarch Inside

I'll get used to it. Yes, we often hear it said, or we say it ourselves, I'll get used to it, we say or they say, with what seems to be genuine acceptance, because there really isn't any other way, at least none has yet been discovered, of expressing in as dignified a way as possible our sense of resignation, what no one asks is at what cost do we get used to things. By Jose Saramago Acceptance Discovered Resignation Things Hear

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. By Jose Saramago Chair Writing Constructing Person Sit

Prudence tried to hold him back, grip him by the sleeve, but, as everyone knows, or should know, prudence is only of any use when it is trying to conserve something in which we are no longer interested. By Jose Saramago Prudence Back Grip Sleeve Interested

Would you like to hear the latest news, that colonel we mentioned earlier has gone blind, It'll be interesting to see what he thinks of that bright idea of his now, He already thought, he shot himself in the head, Now that's what I call a consistent attitude, The army is always ready to set an example. By Jose Saramago Blind Thought Head Attitude Hear

The objectivity of the narrator is a modern invention, we need only reflect that our Lord God didn't want it in his book. By Jose Saramago Lord God Invention Book Objectivity

The sun appears in one of the upper corners of the rectangle, on the left of anyone looking at the picture. By Jose Saramago Rectangle Picture Sun Upper Corners

[...] it seems you don't understand that words are the labels we stick on things, not the things themselves, you'll never know what the things are really like, nor even what their real names are, because the names you gave them are just that, the names you gave them [...] By Jose Saramago Gave Things Understand Words Labels

But he is now so accustomed to seeing that vertical strip of light when he opens his eyes in the morning that he has reached the absurd conclusion that without it he would be trapped forever in the shadows of sleep, in the darkness of his own body and the darkness of the world. By Jose Saramago Darkness Sleep World Accustomed Vertical

On those grim days when he felt surrounded by the vacuum of absurdity, he always felt particularly weary. He tried to blame his weariness on the daily By Jose Saramago Felt Absurdity Weary Grim Days

It is well known that the human mind very often makes decisions for reasons it clearly does not know, presumably because it does so after having travelled the paths of the mind at such speed that, afterwards, it cannot recognise those paths, let alone find them again. By Jose Saramago Mind Paths Human Makes Decisions

A person is not like a thing that you put down in one place and leave, a person moves, thinks, asks, questions, doubts, investigates, probes, and while it is true that, out of a long habit of resignation, he sooner or later ends up looking as if he has submitted to the objects, don't go thinking that this apparent submission is necessarily permanent. By Jose Saramago Questions Doubts Investigates Probes Person

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. By Jose Saramago Born Readily Human Lack Skin

Then he summarised the news-items in his own words, and transmitted them to his immediate neighbours. And so from bed to bed, the news slowly circulated round the ward, increasingly distorted as it was passes on from one inmate to the next, in this way diminishing or exaggerating the details, according to the personal optimism or pessimism of those relaying the information. By Jose Saramago Words Neighbours Summarised Newsitems Transmitted

Don't be afraid, the darkness you're in is no greater than the darkness inside your own body ... By Jose Saramago Darkness Afraid Body Greater Inside

I don't think we did go blind, I think we are blind, Blind but seeing, Blind people who can see, but do not see. By Jose Saramago Blind People

If we are all to them is a pile of shit, then let's be a shit all the way, shoulder to shoulder, because they're bound to get splattered with some of the shit that we supposedly are By Jose Saramago Shit Shoulder Pile Bound Splattered

[ ... ] with the protecting sky in all its splendour and the golden sun blazing forth against a backdrop of crystalline blue, to use the inspired words of a television reporter[ ... ]. By Jose Saramago Blue Reporter Protecting Sky Splendour

When we are born, when we enter this world, it is as if we signed a pact for the rest of our life, but a day may come when we will ask ourselves Who signed this on my behalf? By Jose Saramago Signed Born World Life Behalf

Every second that passes is like a door that opens to allow in what has not yet happened, what we call the future, but, to challenge the contradictory nature of what we have just said, perhaps it would be more accurate to say that the future is just an immense void, that the future is just the time on which the eternal present feeds. By Jose Saramago Future Happened Void Feeds Passes

the only thing that lasts a whole lifetime is life itself, everything else is inevitably precarious, unstable, transient By Jose Saramago Unstable Transient Precarious Thing Lifetime

Death has no need to be cruel, taking people's lives is more than enough. By Jose Saramago Death Cruel Taking People Lives

The only time we can talk about death is while we're alive, not afterwards. By Jose Saramago Alive Time Talk Death

Perhaps only in a world of the blind will things be what they truly are. By Jose Saramago World Blind Things

We no longer live in that fabulous age when the sun, to whom we owe so much, was so generous that it halted its journey over Gibeon in order to give Joshua ample time to overcome the five kings besieging the city. By Jose Saramago Gibeon Joshua Sun City Longer

It is economic power that determines political power, and governments become the political functionaries of economic power. By Jose Saramago Power Economic Political Determines Governments

Every thing in life is a uniform; the only time our bodies are truly in civilian dress is when we're naked. By Jose Saramago Uniform Naked Thing Life Time

A tree weeps when cut down, a dog howls when beaten, but a man matures when offended. By Jose Saramago Beaten Offended Tree Weeps Cut

The wise man contents himself with what he has, until such time as he invents something better. By Jose Saramago Wise Man Contents Time Invents

The difficult thing isn't living with other people, it's understanding them. By Jose Saramago People Difficult Thing Living Understanding

What the day brings is one thing, what we ourselves contribute to the day is quite another By Jose Saramago Day Thing Brings Contribute

God will save you.Surely you're forgetting that God saves souls rather than bodies. By Jose Saramago God Bodies Yousurely Forgetting Souls

Am I really a mistake, he wondered, and supposing I am, what significance. what consequences does it have for a human being to know that he's a mistake. By Jose Saramago Mistake Wondered Significance Supposing Consequences

I think the novel is not so much a literary genre, but a literary space, like a sea that is filled by many rivers. The novel receives streams of science, philosophy, poetry and contains all of these; it's not simply telling a story. By Jose Saramago Literary Genre Space Rivers Sea

Only the donkey knows how weary it feels, all God cares about are humans, and not all humans, because some of them live like donkeys or worse, and God makes no effort to help them. By Jose Saramago God Humans Feels Worse Weary

I am a better novelist than a poet, playwright, or essayist. By Jose Saramago Playwright Poet Essayist Novelist

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. By Jose Saramago Write Novelist Essays Effect Failed

I think we are all going to die, it's just a matter of time, Dying has always been a matter of time. By Jose Saramago Time Dying Matter Die

If I could repeat my childhood, I would repeat it exactly as it was, with the poverty, the cold, little food, with the flies and pigs, all that. By Jose Saramago Repeat Childhood Poverty Cold Food

To threaten someone with a gun is the same as attacking them, If you had taken his gun, the real war would have started, and in all likelihood we would never have got out of that place alive, By Jose Saramago Started Alive Gun Threaten Attacking

Doesn't anybody understand that killing in the name of God only makes Him a murderer? By Jose Saramago God Murderer Understand Killing Makes

A stomach accustomed to hunger is satisfied with very little. By Jose Saramago Stomach Accustomed Hunger Satisfied

Perfect moments, especially when they verge on the sublime have the grave disadvantage of being very short lived, which in fact, being obvious, we would not need to mention were it not that they have a still greater disadvantage, which is that we do not know what to do once they are over. By Jose Saramago Disadvantage Perfect Moments Lived Fact

Life laughs at predictions and introduces words where we imagined silences, and sudden returns when we thought we would never see each other again. By Jose Saramago Life Silences Laughs Predictions Introduces

That we're going to die is something we know from the moment we are born, That's why, in some ways, it's as if we were born dead. By Jose Saramago Born Dead Die Moment

If there is a way for the world to be transformed for the better, it can only be done by pessimism; optimists will never change the world for the better. By Jose Saramago World Pessimism Optimists Transformed Change

The novel is not so much a literary genre, but a literary space, like a sea that is filled by many rivers. By Jose Saramago Literary Genre Space Rivers Sea

The U.S. needs to control the Middle East, the gateway to Asia. It already has military installations in Uzbekistan. By Jose Saramago East Asia Middle Control Gateway

in order to win a battle it might sometimes be necessary to lose it By Jose Saramago Order Win Battle Lose

The fairest and most radically human, coming here to declare that, ultimately, God does not deserve to see. By Jose Saramago Ultimately God Human Coming Fairest

The blind inmates advanced like archangels surrounded by their own splendour. By Jose Saramago Splendour Blind Inmates Advanced Archangels

Buying that mask of Beethoven was an impossible dream. By Jose Saramago Beethoven Buying Dream Mask Impossible

If I'm sincere today, what does it matter if I regret it tomorrow? By Jose Saramago Today Tomorrow Sincere Matter Regret

We live in a very peculiar world. Democracy isn't discussed, as if it was taken for granted, as if democracy had taken God's place, who is also not discussed. By Jose Saramago World Discussed Live Peculiar God

The amber light came on. By Jose Saramago Amber Light

The attitude of insolent haughtiness is characteristic of the relationships Americans form with what is alien to them, with others. By Jose Saramago Americans Attitude Insolent Haughtiness Characteristic

It is not only the voice of blood that needs no eyes, love, which people say is blind, also has a voice of its own. By Jose Saramago Love Voice Eyes Blind Blood

It is difficult to understand these people who democratically take part in elections and a referendum, but are then incapable of democratically accepting the will of the people. By Jose Saramago Referendum People Democratically Difficult Understand

All these words to say the same sad thing. That's what these people are like, they're never quite sure what they mean. By Jose Saramago Thing Words Sad People

We're not short of movements proclaiming that a different world is possible, but unless we can coordinate them into an international movement, capitalism just laughs at all these little organisations. By Jose Saramago Capitalism Organisations Short Proclaiming World

It's the difference between a categorical "Get up" and a tentative "What about trying to get up?". By Jose Saramago Categorical Tentative Difference

Understanding, perhaps, but understanding is just a word. No one can understand another person unless he is that other person. By Jose Saramago Word Understanding Person Understand

When you are old and realize that time is running out, you start imagining that you have the cure for all the ills of the world in your hand, and get frustrated because no one pays you any attention. By Jose Saramago Hand Attention Realize Time Running

They had their past to remember, the present to live in and the future to fear. By Jose Saramago Remember Fear Past Present Live

Look what happened with the employment law in France-the law was withdrawn because the people marched in the streets. I think what we need is a global protest movement of people who won't give up. By Jose Saramago Francethe Law Streets People Happened

The flip-flap of Carmen's slippers could be heard out in the corridor, an aggressive sound, more eloquent than any words. By Jose Saramago Carmen Corridor Sound Words Flipflap

A man could spend his whole life wandering about here and never find himself, especially if he is born lost. By Jose Saramago Lost Man Spend Life Wandering

That it's possible not to see a lie even when it's in front of us. By Jose Saramago Lie Front

The inmates of the second ward in the right wing have decided, at long last, to bury their dead, at least we shall be rid of that particular stench, the smell of the living, however fetid, will be easier to get used to. By Jose Saramago Decided Dead Stench Living Fetid

The order that wants the dead where they should be among the dead, and the living among the living By Jose Saramago Dead Living Order

Fear can cause blindness, said the girl with dark glasses, Never a truer word, that could not be truer, By Jose Saramago Fear Blindness Glasses Word Truer

Just like everything else in life, let time take its course and it will find a solution. By Jose Saramago Life Solution Time Find

There must be a government, said the first blind man, I'm not so sure, but there is, it will be a government of the blind trying to rule the blind, that is to say, nothingness trying to organize nothingness. By Jose Saramago Blind Government Man Nothingness Rule

That is what we say when we do not wish to play the weakling, we say Fine, even though we may be dying, and this is commonly known as taking one's courage in both hands By Jose Saramago Fine Weakling Dying Hands Play

Your questions are false if you already know the answer. By Jose Saramago Answer Questions False

For human words are like shadows, and shadows are incapable of explaining light and between shadow and light there is the opaque body from which words are born.. By Jose Saramago Words Born Light Shadows Human

None of them has a capital P branded on his forehead, By Jose Saramago Forehead Capital Branded

Will we ever learn that certain things can be understood only if we take the trouble to trace them to their origins. By Jose Saramago Origins Learn Things Understood Trouble

Inside us there is something that has no name, that something is what we are. By Jose Saramago Inside

Fortunately, as human history has shown, it is not unusual for good to come of evil, less is said about the evil that can come out of good By Jose Saramago Fortunately Shown Good Evil Human

To continue living, we have to die. That's the story of humanity - generation after generation - that we are going to die. There's nothing dramatic about death except that one loses one's life. By Jose Saramago Die Living Continue Generation Humanity

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. By Jose Saramago Change Society Political Powers Moment

One can show no greater respect than to weep for a stranger. By Jose Saramago Stranger Show Greater Respect Weep

Blessed be the night, which conceals and protects things fair and foul with the same indifferent mantle. By Jose Saramago Blessed Night Mantle Conceals Protects

Everyone has to speak of what they know, and what they do not know they should ask, By Jose Saramago Speak

When I am occupied with a work that requires continuity - a novel, for example - I write every day. By Jose Saramago Continuity Day Occupied Work Requires

When all is said and done, what is clear is that all lives end before their time. By Jose Saramago Time Clear Lives End

But appearances, while not always as deceptive as people say. By Jose Saramago Appearances Deceptive People

The pigs, either because of the shock of it or because they hated being possessed by demons, went wild and threw themselves over the cliff, all two thousand of them, and into the lake, where they drowned. By Jose Saramago Pigs Demons Cliff Lake Drowned

There is nothing as sad, nothing as unutterably sad, as an old man crying. By Jose Saramago Sad Crying Unutterably Man

We can escape from everything, but not from ourselves. By Jose Saramago Escape

Nothing so tires a person as having to struggle, not with himself, but with an abstraction. By Jose Saramago Struggle Abstraction Tires Person

...everything that is not literature is life. By Jose Saramago Life Literature

We are marching against the law of the jungle that the United States and its acolytes old and new want to impose on the world ... By Jose Saramago United States World Marching Law

As citizens, we all have an obligation to intervene and become involved - it's the citizen who changes things. By Jose Saramago Involved Things Obligation Intervene Citizens

In order to invent heaven and hell a man would need to know nothing except the human body By Jose Saramago Body Order Invent Heaven Hell

[ ... ] death never replies, not because she doesn't want to, but because she doesn't know what to say in the face of the greatest of human sorrows. By Jose Saramago Death Replies Sorrows Face Greatest

Strictly speaking, we do not make decisions, decisions make us. By Jose Saramago Strictly Speaking Make Decisions

We use words to understand each other and even, sometimes, to find each other. By Jose Saramago Words Understand Find

Death isn't catching either, yet nevertheless we all die. By Jose Saramago Death Die Catching

The only thing more terrifying than blindness is being the only one who can see. By Jose Saramago Thing Terrifying Blindness

no one could ever put a splint on a frog's leg By Jose Saramago Leg Put Splint Frog

There is nothing that is truly free nor democratic enough. Make no mistake, the internet did not come to save the world. By Jose Saramago Free Democratic Make Mistake World

Reading is probably another way of being in a place. By Jose Saramago Reading Place

The ear has to be educated if one wishes to appreciate musical sounds, just as the eyes must learn to distinguish the value of words. By Jose Saramago Sounds Words Ear Educated Wishes

Chaos is order yet undeciphered. By Jose Saramago Chaos Undeciphered Order

I do not just write, I write what I am. If there is a secret, perhaps that is it. By Jose Saramago Write Secret

In the end we discover the only condition for living is to die. By Jose Saramago Die End Discover Condition Living

If we cannot live entirely like human beings, at least let us do everything in our power not to live entirely like animals, By Jose Saramago Live Animals Human Power

As so often happens, the thing left undone tires you most of all, you only feel rested when it has been accomplished. By Jose Saramago Accomplished Thing Left Undone Tires

Each day is a little bit of history By Jose Saramago History Day Bit

What kind of world is this that can send machines to Mars and does nothing to stop the killing of a human being? By Jose Saramago Mars Kind World Send Machines

She's dead, said the doctor's wife, and her voice was expressionless, if it were possible for such a voice, as dead as the word it had spoken, to have come from a living mouth. By Jose Saramago Wife Expressionless Spoken Mouth Dead

I believe that I've been asked all possible questions. I, myself, if I were a journalist, would not know what to ask me. By Jose Saramago Questions Asked Journalist

Keep what is of no use at the moment, and later you will find what you need. By Jose Saramago Moment Find

We are only ever pretending to ourselves, never to other people ... By Jose Saramago People Pretending

Everything in this world can volunteer some reply, what takes up time is posing the questions. By Jose Saramago Reply Questions World Volunteer Time

Everything goes back to its beginnings, everything returns to chaos. Now, By Jose Saramago Beginnings Chaos Back Returns

Fear can cause blindness ... we were already blind the moment we turned blind, fear struck us blind, fear will keep us blind By Jose Saramago Fear Blind Blindness Moment Turned

Without a future, the present serves no purpose, By Jose Saramago Future Purpose Present Serves

... that destiny has to make many turnings before arriving anywhere, destiny alone knows what it has cost ... By Jose Saramago Cost Destiny Make Turnings Arriving

A writer is just like anyone else, he cannot know everything, nor can he experience everything, he must ask and imagine, By Jose Saramago Imagine Writer Experience

Lord knows why they depict death with wings when death is everywhere. By Jose Saramago Lord Death Depict Wings

That's how life is, what it gives with one hand one day, it takes away with the other. By Jose Saramago