“We liked to believe there is an alternate world, a better world, populated entirely by characters created by the yearnings of humanity--governing… — Miguel Syjuco Copy Share Image
I have to believe that literature can effect change; otherwise, I would have no purpose in my life and would have wasted… — Miguel Syjuco Copy Share Image
I read a blog about this young filmmaker in the Philippines who made a short film, and one of the characters in… — Miguel Syjuco Copy Share Image
With 'Ilustrado,' I set out to change the way we read literature, and I think I failed spectacularly. In fact, I know… — Miguel Syjuco Copy Share Image
I have no illusions that my work can rouse the masses to create change, because literature simply doesn't have that power anymore… — Miguel Syjuco Copy Share Image
Literature is an ethical leap. It is a moral decision. A perilous exercise in constant failure. Literature should have grievances, because there… — Miguel Syjuco Copy Share Image
'Illustrado' is not an autobiography. Only the ideas are autobiographical; the ideas of bitterness, frustration, unchanging society, an individual lost, social awkwardness...… — Miguel Syjuco Copy Share Image
I want to write a book that makes people debate, and makes people think, interact with each other and exchange ideas... I… — Miguel Syjuco Copy Share Image
I look at western literature and especially North American literature, and I feel like it gets bogged down so much with all… — Miguel Syjuco Copy Share Image
I've learned that I have to be happy with creating discussion and debate and that I shouldn't be trying to write a… — Miguel Syjuco Copy Share Image
“Here, need blurs the line between good and bad, and a constant promise of random violence sticks like humidity down your back.” — Miguel Syjuco Copy Share Image
“He fidgets. Thinks. Observes his fellow passengers. Judges everyone, in the traditional Filipino sport of justifying both personal and shared insecurities.” — Miguel Syjuco Copy Share Image
When I was young, I spent my days and nights trying to impress future generations. I spent them. They're gone. All because I was… — Miguel Syjuco Copy Share Image
You can’t bring an unwritten place to life without losing something substantial. Manila is the cradle, the graveyard, the memory. The Mecca, the Cathedral,… — Miguel Syjuco Copy Share Image
“A man's life is all he has. When you're old, it's all you'll ever have.” — Miguel Syjuco Copy Share Image
“A father must take credit for his child, but never a child for his father.” — Miguel Syjuco Copy Share Image
I surprise myself that I'm not dead in the gutter somewhere, surprised that I haven't given up. — Miguel Syjuco Copy Share Image
“We liked to believe there is an alternate world, a better world, populated entirely by characters created by the yearnings of humanity--governing and inspiring… — Miguel Syjuco Copy Share Image
I have to believe that literature can effect change; otherwise, I would have no purpose in my life and would have wasted four years… — Miguel Syjuco Copy Share Image
I don't see myself as any different from all the other Filipinos who have gone abroad looking for opportunity, to be a nurse, a… — Miguel Syjuco Copy Share Image
