A novel is not, after all, a historical document, but a way to travel through the human heart.
For some strange reason, no matter where I go, the place is always called "here".
I've learned so much from my failures that I'm thinking of having some more.
The best thing about being too late is that there's no more need to hurry.
Be kind to unkind people. They need it the most.
I'll give up my bad habits as soon as equally satisfying good habits become available.
My social life is much better, since I stopped spending it with other people.
The 10 or 12 artists I have known really well all my life are at least as competitive as professional athletes. They may express it in slightly different terms, but you look at the Jackson Pollocks et al. , and they are as interested in wall space in the galleries as Joe Montana is in the percentage of completed passes. So the notion that symphonic conducting, or stage play, or pure art, is not a competitive business is real bullshit.
In a nutshell: if freedom visualised by the Enlightenment and demandedpromised by Marx was made to the measure of the ideal producer; the market-promoted freedom is designed with the ideal consumer in mind; neither of the two is "more genuine" than the other.
You have to develop that peace of mind within yourself by which you can become the witness of yourself first. You should be able to witness yourself and see what are the things, which are putting you down.
It has always been like that with changes. In 1913, we established divorce as a right for women in Uruguay. You know what they were saying back then? That families would dissolve. That it was the end of good manners and society. There has always been a conservative and traditional opinion out there that's afraid of change. When I was young and would go dancing at balls, we'd have to wear suits and ties. Otherwise they wouldn't let us in. I don't think anyone dresses up for dancing parties nowadays.