The Philippines, it has a politics of patronage. Family and favors, in addition to the old cliche of guns, goons and gold, really do still hold a lot of sway. — Miguel Syjuco Copy Share Image
I studied in New York. I fell in love with an Australian-born, half-Filipina girl. So we moved to Australia when she went to her university and I moved with her. We moved to Montreal because she was going to take… — 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
