José Saramago Quotes
November 16, 1922 – June 18, 2010
More José Saramago Quotes
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?
José Saramago— ÉPOCA Interview (in Portuguese), São Paulo, 2005.
The universe has no news of our existence.
José Saramago— O universo não tem notícia da nossa existência.
— Interview with Adelino Gomes, Público, 13 November, 2005.
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.
José Saramago— Interview with "El País", 2009.
In order to protect the physical hygiene and mental health of the living, we usually bury the dead.
José Saramago— p. 181 (All the Names (1997))
Even the strongest spirits have the moments of irresistible weakness
José Saramago— The Cave p. 15 (Vintage 2003)
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.
José Saramago— A vida é assim, está cheia de palavras que não valem a pena, ou que valeram e já não valem, cada uma que ainda formos dizendo tirará o lugar a outra mais merecedora, que o seria não tanto por si mesma, mas pelas consequências de tê-la dito.
— The Cave p. 28 (Vintage 2003)
Our biggest tragedy is not knowing what to do with our lives.
José Saramago— Nossa maior tragédia é não saber o que fazer com a vida.
— During the opening lecture of the course Literature and power. Lights and shadows, at University Carlos III in Madrid. As quoted by Marco Aurélio Weissheimer in the article Saramago prega retorno à filosofia para salvar democracia, na Agência Carta Maior. (January 19th, 2004)
Now we live in the empire of oil and money — the rest is disguise.
José Saramago— ÉPOCA Interview (in Portuguese), São Paulo, 2005.
...I'm not able to fear death... We will all turn skeletons and everything shall end. The skeleton becomes, therefore, the most radical form of nudity.
José Saramago— ÉPOCA Interview (in Portuguese), São Paulo, 2005.
Deep down, the problem is not a God that does not exist, but the religion that proclaims Him. I denounce religions, all religions, as harmful to Humankind. These are harsh words, but one must say them.
José Saramago— Interview to the newspaper "O Globo" (at the time of the release of his latest book, Cain), in 2009.
To me, the Bible is a book. Important, no doubt, but a book.
José Saramago— Interview to the newspaper "O Globo", 2009.
I think that we do not deserve life, I think that religions have been and continue to be instruments of domination and death.
José Saramago— Interview to the newspaper "O Globo", 2009.
There is nothing that is truly free nor democratic enough. Make no mistake, the internet did not come to save the world.
José Saramago— Interview with "O Globo", July 2009.
Perhaps it is the language that chooses the writers it needs, making use of them so that each might express a tiny part of what it is.
José Saramago— p. 47 (The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis (1993))
The possibility of the impossible, dreams and illusions, are the subject of my novels.
José Saramago— Introduction
Perhaps only in a world of the blind will things be what they truly are.
José Saramago— p. 126 (Blindness (1995))
What the eye doesn’t see the heart doesn’t grieve over.
José Saramago— p. 185 (All the Names (1997))
That it’s possible not to see a lie even when it’s in front of us.
José Saramago— p. 210 (All the Names (1997))
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.
José Saramago— The woman in the ground floor flat
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.
José Saramago— The Cave p. 20 (Vintage 2003)
Earthenware is like people, it needs to be well treated.
José Saramago— The Cave p. 21 (Vintage 2003)
The only time we can talk about death is while we’re alive, not afterwards.
José Saramago— The Cave p. 22 (Vintage 2003)
Age carries with it a double load of guilt,
José Saramago— p. 69 (Vintage 2003)
The emptiness of old age had caused him to forget that, in matters of feeling and of the heart, too much is always better than too little.
José Saramago— p. 69 (Vintage 2003)
He felt very tired, not from the mental effort, but because he had suddenly seen what the world was like, how there are many lies and truths,
José Saramago— p. 73 (Vintage 2003)
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 imagination that we can catch him out.
José Saramago— p. 115 (Vintage 2003)
Human nature is, by definition, a talkative one, imprudent, indiscreet, gossipy, incapable of closing its mouth and keeping it closed.
José Saramago— p.117(vintage 2003)
