“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.” KnowsHappinessValuesForeverFailingCherishShort Lived Author:Jose Saramago
“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.” KnowsMenWorldNeedsMightWomenConceptionMaryAlmightyVirginsMen WomenAlmighty GodVirgin MaryImmaculateImmaculate Conception Author:Jose Saramago
“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.” KnowsNeedsStillsMomentsFactsPerfectGreaterObviousGravesSublimeDisadvantagesVergeShort LivedPerfect Moments Author:Jose Saramago
“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.” PeopleKnowsWorldWritingBelieveMightJobsAsksI BelieveKnow HowLimitsMereAsk MeNovelistsPropose Author:Jose Saramago
“Lord knows why they depict death with wings when death is everywhere.” KnowsLordWings Author:Jose Saramago
“I believe that I've been asked all possible questions. I, myself, if I were a journalist, would not know what to ask me.” IfsKnowsBelieveAsksI BelieveJournalistAsk Me Author:Jose Saramago
“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.” KnowsWritingNovelKnow HowEffectsNovelistsEssaysEssayists Author:Jose Saramago
“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.” PeopleIfsKnowsWorldWayWritingWellsKindI CanBookPoliticalSocialLevelsImagineThis WorldBenefitsWho I AmInvolvementPolitical Involvement Author:Jose Saramago
“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.” IfsKnowsTwoSometimesFeelingsSeemsMightEyeThreeSimpleDealsFourSeeingBearsSkinsSurfaceUpsetExcitementNervesDeceivingCan NotArmorAdjectivesComposurePronounsAdverbs Author:Jose Saramago
“Men are all the same, they think that because they came out of the belly of a woman they know all there is to know about women.” ThinkingKnowsMenBelly Author:Jose Saramago
“You know the name you were given, you do not know the name that you have” KnowsNamesGiven Author:Jose Saramago
“We never consider that the things dogs know about us are things of which we have not the faintest notion.” KnowsDogNotion Author:Jose Saramago
“...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.” KnowsLongSometimesMightAsksGivenSecretKnow HowTearsAnxietyLaughterFilledGiven UpArriving Author:Jose Saramago
“Why did we become blind, I don't know, perhaps one day we'll find out, Do you want me to tell you what I think, Yes, do, 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.” PeopleThinkingKnowsWantSeeingOne DayBlindWant MeYou Want MeDo You Want MeBlind People Author:Jose Saramago
“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.” PeopleKnowsGivingHandsWinningWaitingSidesOur LivesCapableTablesPartnersCardsGamblingDeck Author:Jose Saramago
“all stories are like those about the creation of the universe, no one was there, no one witnessed anything, yet everyone knows what happened.” KnowsStoriesUniverseHappenedCreationCreation Of The Universe Author:Jose Saramago
“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.” IfsKnowsGivingDoeSaidHandsGoes OnMiracleBlindPreservesDay To DayFragilityFragility Of Life Author:Jose Saramago
