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Jorge Luis Borges Quotes

Literature is not exhaustible, for the sufficient and simple reason that a single book is not. A book is not an isolated entity: it is a narration, an axis of innumerable narrations. One literature differs from another, either before or after it, not so much because of the text as for the manner in which it is read Picture Quote #1

Not a single star will be left in the night. The night will not be left. I will die and, with me, the weight of the intolerable universe. I shall erase the pyramids, the medallions, the continents and faces. I shall erase the accumulated past. I shall make dust of history, dust of dust. Now I am looking on the final sunset. I am hearing the last bird. I bequeath nothingness to no one Picture Quote #1

A man sets out to draw the world. As the years go by, he peoples a space with images of provinces, kingdoms, mountains, bays, ships, islands, fishes, rooms, instruments, stars, horses, and individuals. A short time before he dies, he discovers that the patient labyrinth of lines traces the lineaments of his own face Picture Quote #1

A book is more than a verbal structure or series of verbal structures; it is the dialogue it establishes with its reader and the intonation it imposes upon his voice and the changing and durable images it leaves in his memory. A book is not an isolated being: it is a relationship, an axis of innumerable relationships Picture Quote #1

I can’t talk about my books. I have written them and tried to forget them. I have written once, and readers have read me many times, no? I try to think of what I wrote, it’s very unhealthy to think about the past, the case of elegies is very sad, as much as the case of complaints Picture Quote #1

Then he reflected that reality does not usually coincide with our anticipation of it; with a logic of his own he inferred that to forsee a circumstantial detail is to prevent its happening. Trusting in this weak magic, he invented, so that they would not happen, the most gruesome details Picture Quote #1

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Truly fine poetry must be read aloud. A good poem does not allow itself to be read in a low voice or silently. If we can read it silently, it is not a valid poem: a poem demands pronunciation. Poetry always remembers that it was an oral art before it was a written art. It remembers that it was first song Picture Quote #1

A writer, or any man, must believe that whatever happens to him is an instrument; everything has been given for an end. This is even stronger in the case of the artist. Everything that happens, including humiliations, embarrassments, misfortunes, all has been given like clay, like material for one’s art. One must accept it Picture Quote #1

Emma dropped the paper. Her first impression was of a weak feeling in her stomach and in her knees; then of blind guilt, of unreality, of coldness, of fear; then she wished that it were already the next day. Immediately afterwards she realized that that wish was futile because the death of her father was the only thing that had happened in the world, and it would go on happening endlessly Picture Quote #1

The things that are said in literature are always the same. What is important is the way they are said. Looking for metaphors, for example: When I was a young man I was always hunting for new metaphors. Then I found out that really good metaphors are always the same Picture Quote #1

Of all man’s instruments, the most wondrous, no doubt, is the book. The other instruments are extensions of his body. The microscope, the telescope, are extensions of his sight; the telephone is the extension of his voice; then we have the plow and the sword, extensions of the arm. But the book is something else altogether: the book is an extension of memory and imagination Picture Quote #1

The thought came over me that never would one full and absolute moment, containing all the others, justify my life, that all of my instants would be provisional phases, annihilators of the past turned to face the future, and that beyond the episodic, the present, the circumstantial, we were nobody Picture Quote #1

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The aesthetic event is something as evident, as immediate, as indefinable as love, the taste of fruit, as water. We feel poetry as we feel the closeness of a woman, or as we feel a mountain or a bay. If we feel it immediately, why dilute it further with words, which no doubt will be weaker than our feelings? Picture Quote #1

The fact is that all writers create their precursors. Their work modifies our conception of the past, just as it is bound to modify the future Picture Quote #1

The vast ineptitude of his pretense would be a convincing proof that this was no fraud Picture Quote #1

His many years had reduced and polished him the way water smooths and polishes a stone or generations of men polish a proverb Picture Quote #1

The poverty of yesterday was less squalid than the poverty we purchase with our industry today. Fortunes were smaller then as well Picture Quote #1

When one confesses to an act, one ceases to be an actor in it and becomes its witness, becomes a man that observes and narrates it and no longer the man that performed it Picture Quote #1

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Films are even stranger, for what we are seeing are not disguised people but photographs of disguised people, and yet we believe them while the film is being shown Picture Quote #1

He transforms all concepts into incommunicable, solidified objects. To refute him is to become contaminated with unreality Picture Quote #1

Every man should be capable of all ideas and I understand that in the future this will be the case Picture Quote #1

Thus fought the heroes, tranquil their admirable hearts, violent their swords, resigned to kill and to die Picture Quote #1

That history should have imitated history was already sufficiently marvellous; that history should imitate literature is inconceivable Picture Quote #1

Like every writer, he measured the virtues of other writers by their performance, and asked that they measure him by what he conjectured or planned Picture Quote #1

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There is no point in being overwhelmed by the appalling total of human suffering; such a total does not exist. Neither poverty nor pain is accumulable Picture Quote #1

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Literature is not exhaustible, for the sufficient and simple reason that a single book is not. A book is not an isolated entity: it is a narration, an axis of innumerable narrations. One literature differs from another, either before or after it, not so much because of the text as for the manner in which it is read (Jorge Luis Borges Quotes) Not a single star will be left in the night. The night will not be left. I will die and, with me, the weight of the intolerable universe. I shall erase the pyramids, the medallions, the continents and faces. I shall erase the accumulated past. I shall make dust of history, dust of dust. Now I am looking on the final sunset. I am hearing the last bird. I bequeath nothingness to no one (Jorge Luis Borges Quotes) A man sets out to draw the world. As the years go by, he peoples a space with images of provinces, kingdoms, mountains, bays, ships, islands, fishes, rooms, instruments, stars, horses, and individuals. A short time before he dies, he discovers that the patient labyrinth of lines traces the lineaments of his own face (Jorge Luis Borges Quotes) A book is more than a verbal structure or series of verbal structures; it is the dialogue it establishes with its reader and the intonation it imposes upon his voice and the changing and durable images it leaves in his memory. A book is not an isolated being: it is a relationship, an axis of innumerable relationships (Jorge Luis Borges Quotes) I can’t talk about my books. I have written them and tried to forget them. I have written once, and readers have read me many times, no? I try to think of what I wrote, it’s very unhealthy to think about the past, the case of elegies is very sad, as much as the case of complaints (Jorge Luis Borges Quotes) Then he reflected that reality does not usually coincide with our anticipation of it; with a logic of his own he inferred that to forsee a circumstantial detail is to prevent its happening. Trusting in this weak magic, he invented, so that they would not happen, the most gruesome details (Jorge Luis Borges Quotes) Truly fine poetry must be read aloud. A good poem does not allow itself to be read in a low voice or silently. If we can read it silently, it is not a valid poem: a poem demands pronunciation. Poetry always remembers that it was an oral art before it was a written art. It remembers that it was first song (Jorge Luis Borges Quotes) A writer, or any man, must believe that whatever happens to him is an instrument; everything has been given for an end. This is even stronger in the case of the artist. Everything that happens, including humiliations, embarrassments, misfortunes, all has been given like clay, like material for one’s art. One must accept it (Jorge Luis Borges Quotes) Emma dropped the paper. Her first impression was of a weak feeling in her stomach and in her knees; then of blind guilt, of unreality, of coldness, of fear; then she wished that it were already the next day. Immediately afterwards she realized that that wish was futile because the death of her father was the only thing that had happened in the world, and it would go on happening endlessly (Jorge Luis Borges Quotes) The things that are said in literature are always the same. What is important is the way they are said. Looking for metaphors, for example: When I was a young man I was always hunting for new metaphors. Then I found out that really good metaphors are always the same (Jorge Luis Borges Quotes) Of all man’s instruments, the most wondrous, no doubt, is the book. The other instruments are extensions of his body. The microscope, the telescope, are extensions of his sight; the telephone is the extension of his voice; then we have the plow and the sword, extensions of the arm. But the book is something else altogether: the book is an extension of memory and imagination (Jorge Luis Borges Quotes) The thought came over me that never would one full and absolute moment, containing all the others, justify my life, that all of my instants would be provisional phases, annihilators of the past turned to face the future, and that beyond the episodic, the present, the circumstantial, we were nobody (Jorge Luis Borges Quotes) The aesthetic event is something as evident, as immediate, as indefinable as love, the taste of fruit, as water. We feel poetry as we feel the closeness of a woman, or as we feel a mountain or a bay. If we feel it immediately, why dilute it further with words, which no doubt will be weaker than our feelings? (Jorge Luis Borges Quotes) The fact is that all writers create their precursors. Their work modifies our conception of the past, just as it is bound to modify the future (Jorge Luis Borges Quotes) The vast ineptitude of his pretense would be a convincing proof that this was no fraud (Jorge Luis Borges Quotes) His many years had reduced and polished him the way water smooths and polishes a stone or generations of men polish a proverb (Jorge Luis Borges Quotes) The poverty of yesterday was less squalid than the poverty we purchase with our industry today. Fortunes were smaller then as well (Jorge Luis Borges Quotes) When one confesses to an act, one ceases to be an actor in it and becomes its witness, becomes a man that observes and narrates it and no longer the man that performed it (Jorge Luis Borges Quotes) Films are even stranger, for what we are seeing are not disguised people but photographs of disguised people, and yet we believe them while the film is being shown (Jorge Luis Borges Quotes) He transforms all concepts into incommunicable, solidified objects. To refute him is to become contaminated with unreality (Jorge Luis Borges Quotes) Every man should be capable of all ideas and I understand that in the future this will be the case (Jorge Luis Borges Quotes) Thus fought the heroes, tranquil their admirable hearts, violent their swords, resigned to kill and to die (Jorge Luis Borges Quotes) That history should have imitated history was already sufficiently marvellous; that history should imitate literature is inconceivable (Jorge Luis Borges Quotes) Like every writer, he measured the virtues of other writers by their performance, and asked that they measure him by what he conjectured or planned (Jorge Luis Borges Quotes) There is no point in being overwhelmed by the appalling total of human suffering; such a total does not exist. Neither poverty nor pain is accumulable (Jorge Luis Borges Quotes)

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