Literature

“I like to have the freedom a novelist has.”

“English poetry is wonderful but it is not for me.”

“We cannot dispossess ourselves of our literary heritage. We speak the English tongue and write in the English language.”

“Poetry is a means of redemption.”

“Literature will help us live in a dynamic way, if not we must prepare to expire.”

“Ang panitikan ay mga kathang makasining, taglay ang mataas na uri, na naglalarawan ng buhay, kaugalian, mga karanasan at kalagayan ng bayan o sosyedad sa isang kapanahunan.”

“I consider this mark of your esteem the highest and most enviable literary distinction which I could possibly attain.”

“As an African writer I did not have to sound like a carbon copy English boy if I wrote in English.”

“Làm thơ với trái tim, với chất sống, không đủ. Phải có văn hóa nữa.”

“The number of people who can copulate properly may be few; the number who can write well are infinitely fewer.”

“小说稗官，知无关于著述，街谈巷议，或有益于劝惩，聊付抄胥存之。”

“The ability to crawl inside the mind of another is what makes reading the ultimate democratic act in a democratic society.”

“Me interesa muchísimo, pero yo lo que quisiera es un libro que pusiera en relieve las miserias de nuestra sociedad contemporánea.”

“The role of the poet has never changed ever since there was poetry.”

“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.”