We write from life and call it literature, and literature lives because we are in it. — F. Sionil José Copy Share Image
You perhaps know me as a novelist. Literature is one of the arts - in fact, the noblest of the arts. That… — F. Sionil Jose Copy Share Image
“Literature suffers because writers give their books to colleagues who will then write glowing reviews or saccharine introductions.” — F. Sionil José Copy Share Image
Poetry, fiction as novels or short stories - these are autonomous as created by their authors. They should stand on their own,… — F. Sionil Jose Copy Share Image
We read because they teach us about people, we can see ourselves in them,in their problems.And by seeing ourselves in them, we… — F. Sionil José Copy Share Image
Writers are historians, too. It is in literature that the greater truths about a people and their past are found. — F. Sionil Jose Copy Share Image
For decades, as literary editor, I have followed the growth of our creative writing in English. In my Solidaridad Bookshop, half of… — F. Sionil Jose Copy Share Image
Language as a communication tool is the primary element from which literature is created. Even in pre-literate societies, it exists as songs,… — F. Sionil Jose Copy Share Image
This is the harsh truth about us: not only do Filipinos ignore books, literature - we do not understand how important the… — F. Sionil Jose Copy Share Image
What most readers do not realize is that it takes a particular genius to write funny, to satirize. — F. Sionil Jose Copy Share Image
“There is nothing like the land you belong to claiming you back. But everywhere the earth is the same. -Old David” — F. Sionil José Copy Share Image
“Indeed time has that ultimate capacity to render the passions of the past when recalled in the present as no more than grandiloquent gestures.” — F. Sionil José Copy Share Image
Class - or the economic status of individuals - is evident in all societies, some very well stratified by a rigid caste system determined… — F. Sionil Jose Copy Share Image
We write from life and call it literature, and literature lives because we are in it. — F. Sionil José Copy Share Image
I can imagine the writers of China, England and France, crippled and unsure of themselves when they feel that the ghosts of Confucius, Mencius,… — F. Sionil Jose Copy Share Image
Always remember: the alleviation of poverty is never a political or economic issue - it is moral. — F. Sionil Jose Copy Share Image
In the end, religion teaches us to value truth, justice and freedom. — F. Sionil Jose Copy Share Image
My reading of philosophy and history is desultory; I know so much and yet so little. — F. Sionil Jose Copy Share Image
Life is always sad. That's what makes suicide so tempting because life is all that we really have and haven't. Death makes us equals,… — F. Sionil José Copy Share Image
We recognize the distinctness of Asian art when we turn to its traditional forms, recognize it as Japanese, Chinese and Indian, even Balinese or… — F. Sionil Jose Copy Share Image
“There is nothing in the world which an artist cannot recreate into something poetic, ennobling. And why do we read these things? They are… — F. Sionil José Copy Share Image
All through history, a nation or a civilization's enduring glory is articulated by its mega constructions - the pyramids, the lofty cathedrals of the… — F. Sionil Jose Copy Share Image
