"In exile one is nothing but a ghost ... I ceased to exist when I went into exile."

Reinaldo Arenas Literature See all quotes by Reinaldo Arenas →

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“I never keep a fixed schedule. I like to write for a while, move around, read, drink something, come back. But when I’ve entered the world of the novel, that demands more concentration. It’s hard to even write a letter, because it means leaving that world. To put aside the typewriter and take out letter paper, or stop because you have to pay the phone bill, is terrible…”

“The writer has a fundamental responsibility to write well or to write the best he can, because if he doesn’t he’s not a writer. And when a writer writes, he’s always referring to a social and historical context…”

“I’ve always been very interested in the short story. Compared to the often exhausting world of the novel, the short story offers a quicker reward, and there’s something appealing about its greater spontaneity…”

Resonant Thoughts

"Both Penang and the Internet were established basically for strategic military reasons. In both cases, what was built by the military was merely a kernel for a much vaster phenomenon that came along l…"

— Neal Stephenson

Literature1959

#peace

"We permit absolute possession of the soil of our country, with no legal rights of existence on the soil to the vast majority who do not possess it. A great landholder may legally convert his whole pro…"

— Alfred Russel Wallace

Science1823–1913

#philosophy

"Humanity many times has had sad experience of superpowerful police forces...As soon as slip out from under the firm thumb of a suspicious local tribune, they become arbitrary, merciless, a law unto th…"

— Jack Vance

Literature1916–2013

#justice

"was nothing like Tokyo, where the past, all that remained of it, was nurtured with a nervous care…Here it seemed the very fabric of things, as if the city were a single growth of stone and brick, unco…"

— William Gibson

Literature1948–2008

#wisdom