---
title: "1 Understand Write Quotes By Juan Gabriel Vásquez"
description: "1 Understand Write quotes by Juan Gabriel Vásquez. Plus more from Juan Gabriel Vásquez and more Understand Write sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d9d/juan-gabriel-v-squez-22268_doubting_i-don-t-know-when-i-started-to-realize-t_1714286.jpg"
---

> [“I don’t know when I started to realize that my country’s past was incomprehensible and obscure to me, a real shadowy terrain, nor can I remember the precise moment when all that i’d believed so trustworthy and predictable—the place I’d…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juan-gabriel-v-squez/i-don-t-know-when-i-started-to-realize-that-my-country-s-past-was/)

[Juan Gabriel Vásquez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juan-gabriel-v-squez/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d9d/juan-gabriel-v-squez-22268_doubting_i-don-t-know-when-i-started-to-realize-t_1714286.jpg)

## More by Juan Gabriel Vásquez

> [“In the darkness of the bedroom I thought of that, although thinking in the darkness is not advisable: things seem bigger or more serious…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juan-gabriel-v-squez/in-the-darkness-of-the-bedroom-i-thought-of-that-although-thinking-in/)

[Juan Gabriel Vásquez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juan-gabriel-v-squez/)

> [“And I tell myself at the same time that we're terrible judges of the present moment, maybe because the present doesn't actually exist: all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juan-gabriel-v-squez/and-i-tell-myself-at-the-same-time-that-we-re-terrible-judges-of-the/)

[Juan Gabriel Vásquez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juan-gabriel-v-squez/)

> [“the kind of sadness we tolerate because it appears at happy moments”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juan-gabriel-v-squez/the-kind-of-sadness-we-tolerate-because-it-appears-at-happy-moments/)

[Juan Gabriel Vásquez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juan-gabriel-v-squez/)

> [“they talked of intentions and projects, convinced, as only new lovers can be, that saying what you wanted was the same as saying who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juan-gabriel-v-squez/they-talked-of-intentions-and-projects-convinced-as-only-new-lovers/)

[Juan Gabriel Vásquez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juan-gabriel-v-squez/)

> [“A person is from wherever they feel best, and roots are for plants. Everyone knows that, don't they?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juan-gabriel-v-squez/a-person-is-from-wherever-they-feel-best-and-roots-are-for-plants/)

[Juan Gabriel Vásquez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juan-gabriel-v-squez/)

> [“with all the bad news expunged? Mallarino had never been able to understand that: for him it was the indignation or rage or hatred…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juan-gabriel-v-squez/with-all-the-bad-news-expunged-mallarino-had-never-been-able-to/)

[Juan Gabriel Vásquez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juan-gabriel-v-squez/)

> [“Adulthood brings with it the pernicious illusion of control, and perhaps even depends on it. I mean that mirage of dominion over our own…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juan-gabriel-v-squez/adulthood-brings-with-it-the-pernicious-illusion-of-control-and/)

[Juan Gabriel Vásquez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juan-gabriel-v-squez/)

> [“creature with imprecise contours, a sort of deceitful, dishonest amoeba that can’t be investigated, for, looking for it again under the microscope, we find…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juan-gabriel-v-squez/creature-with-imprecise-contours-a-sort-of-deceitful-dishonest-amoeba/)

[Juan Gabriel Vásquez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juan-gabriel-v-squez/)

> [“I don’t know when I started to realize that my country’s past was incomprehensible and obscure to me, a real shadowy terrain, nor can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juan-gabriel-v-squez/i-don-t-know-when-i-started-to-realize-that-my-country-s-past-was/)

[Juan Gabriel Vásquez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juan-gabriel-v-squez/)

> [“Remembering tires a person out. this is something they don't teach us. Exercising one's memory is an exhausting activity. It draws our energy and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juan-gabriel-v-squez/remembering-tires-a-person-out-this-is-something-they-don-t-teach-us/)

[Juan Gabriel Vásquez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juan-gabriel-v-squez/)

> [“Now that so many years have passed, now that I remember with the benefit of an understanding I didn't then have, I think of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juan-gabriel-v-squez/now-that-so-many-years-have-passed-now-that-i-remember-with-the/)

[Juan Gabriel Vásquez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juan-gabriel-v-squez/)

> [“The memory has a marvellous capacity to remember the forgotten, its existence and its stalking, and thus allow us to stay alert when we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juan-gabriel-v-squez/the-memory-has-a-marvellous-capacity-to-remember-the-forgotten-its/)

[Juan Gabriel Vásquez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juan-gabriel-v-squez/)

> [“I read somewhere that a man should tell the story of his life at the age of forty, and this deadline is fast approaching…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juan-gabriel-v-squez/i-read-somewhere-that-a-man-should-tell-the-story-of-his-life-at-the/)

[Juan Gabriel Vásquez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juan-gabriel-v-squez/)

> [“her face was like a party that everyone had left.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juan-gabriel-v-squez/her-face-was-like-a-party-that-everyone-had-left/)

[Juan Gabriel Vásquez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juan-gabriel-v-squez/)

> [“So you fell out of the sky, too?" the Little Prince asked the pilot who tells the story, and I thought yes, I'd fallen…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juan-gabriel-v-squez/so-you-fell-out-of-the-sky-too-the-little-prince-asked-the-pilot-who/)

[Juan Gabriel Vásquez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juan-gabriel-v-squez/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "ItemList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/understand-write/juan-gabriel-v-squez/#itemlist",
            "name": "1 Understand Write Quotes By Juan Gabriel Vásquez",
            "numberOfItems": 1,
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“I don’t know when I started to realize that my country’s past was incomprehensible and obscure to me, a real shadowy terrain, nor can I remember the precise moment when all that i’d believed so trustworthy and predictable—the place I’d grown up, whose language I speak and customs I know, the place whose past I was taught in school and in university, whose present I have become accustomed to interpreting and pretending I understand—began to turn into a place of shadows out of whcih jumped horrible creatures as soon as we dropped our guard. With time I have come to think that this is the true reason why writers write aboutn the places of childhood and adolescence and even their early touth: you don’t write about what you know and understand, and much less do you write because you know and understand, but because you understand that all your knowledge and comprehension is false, a mirage and an illusion, so your books are not, could not be, more than elaborate displays of disorientation: extensive and multifarious declarations of preplexity. All that I thought was so clear, you then think, now turns out to be full of duplicities and hidden intentions, like a friend who betrays us. To that revelation, which is always annoying and often frankly painful, the writer responds in the only way one knows how: with a book. And that’s how you try to mitigate your disconcertion, reduce the space between what you don’t know and what can be known, and most of all resolve your profound disagreement with that unpredictable reality. “Out of the quarrel with others we make rhetoric,” wrote Yeats. “Out of the quarrel with ourselves we make poetry.” And what happens when both quarrels arise at the same time, when fighting with the world is a reflection or a transfiguration of the subterranean but constant confrontation you have with yourself? Then you write a book like the one I’m writing now, and blindly trust that the book will mean something to somebody else.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Juan Gabriel Vásquez"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juan-gabriel-v-squez/i-don-t-know-when-i-started-to-realize-that-my-country-s-past-was/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d9d/juan-gabriel-v-squez-22268_doubting_i-don-t-know-when-i-started-to-realize-t_1714286.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d9d/juan-gabriel-v-squez-22268_doubting_i-don-t-know-when-i-started-to-realize-t_1714286.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d9d/juan-gabriel-v-squez-22268_doubting_i-don-t-know-when-i-started-to-realize-t_1714286.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“I don’t know when I started to realize that my country’s past was incomprehensible and obscure to me, a real…” — Juan Gabriel Vásquez",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "CollectionPage",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/understand-write/juan-gabriel-v-squez/#webpage",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/understand-write/juan-gabriel-v-squez/",
            "name": "Understand Write Quotes by Juan Gabriel Vásquez",
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "mainEntity": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/understand-write/juan-gabriel-v-squez/#itemlist"
            },
            "primaryImageOfPage": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d9d/juan-gabriel-v-squez-22268_doubting_i-don-t-know-when-i-started-to-realize-t_1714286.jpg"
            },
            "description": "1 Understand Write quotes by Juan Gabriel Vásquez. Plus more from Juan Gabriel Vásquez and more Understand Write sayings from other authors.",
            "breadcrumb": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/understand-write/juan-gabriel-v-squez/#breadcrumb"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/understand-write/juan-gabriel-v-squez/#breadcrumb",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Topics",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/categories/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "Understand Write",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/understand-write/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 5,
                    "name": "Juan Gabriel Vásquez",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/understand-write/juan-gabriel-v-squez/"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```