Literature

“The way of writing was more important than the theme.”

“My only duty as a poet is to defend the use of language.”

“What I find compelling is to write stories about people in Latin America who otherwise might be invisible.”

“The important thing in assessing the merit of a poem is time.”

“O King, my house is mahapurana (very old) like the Bhagavata, but while the Bhagavata is replete with artha (profound sense), the house contains no artha (money).”

“Para conocer la utilidad, el arte, el mérito, la gracia y la beldad de la poesía no es menester ser poeta.”

““habiendo reunido hasta hoy en un repertorio casi dos mil autores de la América Septentrional””

“A mixture of memory, observation, and imagination finally make a poem what it is.”

“Am I not preparing for the great object of embellishing the tongue of my fathers?”

“The purpose of literature is to help toward ultimate perfection in the culture of beauty, and to instill purity into the mind of man by creative thoughts.”

“In all my stories, in all my work, I do NOT write about the Filipino, I write about MAN.”

“This is where we lived in, down Second Avenue — that’s the title of my autobiography, Down Second Avenue.”

“Dalam kalimat ketjil seperti: Sekali berarti, sudah itu mati — kita bisa djalin-anjamkan seluruh tudjuan hidup kita.”

“The specific object of what Broch liked to call “novelistic knowledge” is existence.”

“Not to speak of sentiment and thought, which constitute the real and lasting merit of any work.”

“Liber hic, Lector candide, posthumus P. Matthaei Riccii partus.”

“The Australian writer, until he gets a “London hearing”, is only accepted as an imitator of some recognised English or American author.”

“সকলেই কবি নয়। কেউ কেউ কবি।”