“There are plenty of reasons not to put up with the world as it is, and if the book has any kind of message, I suppose that's it.” WorldReasonPlenty Author:Jose Saramago
“Everything in this world can volunteer some reply, what takes up time is posing the questions.” WorldThis WorldVolunteerPosing 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
“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.” WorldHandsRunningRealizingPayAttentionCuresFrustratedTime Is Running OutTime Running Out 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
“There is nothing that is truly free nor democratic enough. Make no mistake, the internet did not come to save the world.” WorldEnoughMistakeInternetDemocraticSave The World Author:Jose Saramago
“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.” IfsWorldDemocracyTakenGrantedPeculiarTaken For Granted Author:Jose Saramago
“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.” WorldWantProblemHumanitySpeakDenyBeliever Author:Jose Saramago
“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.” IfsWorldEndsFactsLiteratureGivenEffectsMethodDemocraticOur WorldTrafficEcologyEnd TimesGalaxyGarbageJamGreenhousesVelocityUntouchablesTraffic JamGarbage Disposal Author:Jose Saramago
“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?” PeopleWorldFacesPlanetsTerribleOptimisticDestroyedEmpiresDominantPessimisticBeing Optimistic Author:Jose Saramago
“The world is governed by institutions that are not democratic - the World Bank, the IMF, the WTO.” WorldInstitutionsDemocraticImfWorld Bank Author:Jose Saramago
“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.” WorldTerribleIntensityFragilityOminousFragility Of Life Author:Jose Saramago
“What kind of world is this that can send machines to Mars and does nothing to stop the killing of a human being?” WorldHumansKindDoeHuman BeingsMachinesKillingMarsColonizing Mars Author:Jose Saramago
“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.” WorldWellsAmericaProcessForgetKnownEffectsPositivePlanetsAspectDenyUsaWell KnownPresuming Author:Jose Saramago
“At the end of the 1950s, I started working at a publishing company, Estudios Cor, as production manager, so returning, but not as an author, to the world of letters I had left some years before.” WorldYearsEndsLeftCompanyLettersProductionsManagersPublishing 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
“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.” WorldYearsHas BeensEndsLastsProcessChangedCivilizationSeptemberSeptember 11Process Of Change Author:Jose Saramago
“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.” WorldTwoShowsBornFineBirthMy FamilyThanksOfficialsFraudDocumentsPettyNovemberTwo Days Author:Jose Saramago
“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.” WorldLittlesDifferentLaughingMovementCapitalismInternationalOrganisationDifferent WorldsProclaimingCoordinates Author:Jose Saramago
“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?” IfsWorldMayAsksBornOur LivesThis WorldBehalfPact Author:Jose Saramago
“. . . 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.” IfsWorldWayDoneChanging The WorldPessimismTransformedOptimistNever Change Author:Jose Saramago
“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.” PeopleWorldMindHumansSometimesUseRealitySpiritHuman BeingsTroubleWeakConfusedJustifyCowardiceAdjusting Author:Jose Saramago
“Perhaps only in a world of the blind will things be what they truly are.” WorldBlindBlindness Author:Jose Saramago
“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.” WorldWantStatesLawUnitedUnited StatesIraqUsaJungleOld And New Author:Jose Saramago
