Writer Quotes by F. Sionil José

10 Writer quotes by F. Sionil José

Jose’s Filipino perspective adds depth to his musings on the writer’s social responsibility. These ten statements capture his belief that literature can echo the struggles and hopes of a nation.

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“Literature suffers because writers give their books to colleagues who will then write glowing reviews or saccharine introductions.”

F. Sionil José

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You perhaps know me as a novelist. Literature is one of the arts - in fact, the noblest of the arts. That…

F. Sionil Jose

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Art, whatever form it takes, requires hard work, craftsmanship and creativity. As a writer, I know my grammar, cadence, the music of…

F. Sionil Jose

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I can imagine the writers of China, England and France, crippled and unsure of themselves when they feel that the ghosts of…

F. Sionil Jose

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Literature - Eastern and Western - abounds with stories, myths, legends about the search for youth, for eternal life.

F. Sionil Jose

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You should live in a manner that should enable you to devote time to writing and contemplation. As is often said, the…

F. Sionil Jose

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“The importance not just of history, but of roots - that a writer must have then to nurture, to remember if he…

F. Sionil Jose

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Writing is a solitary profession; you are really alone when you write. Then the emotions become well shaped and distinct. But their…

F. Sionil Jose

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I write to please myself—of course, that is a given. But beyond this reach for pleasure, I know that I write for…

F. Sionil José

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A virtuoso performance. Scott Thompson’s biography of the soldier statesman Fidel V. Ramos illustrates the fascinating and complex geography of Filipino politics…

F. Sionil José

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More by F. Sionil José

“There is nothing like the land you belong to claiming you back. But everywhere the earth is the same. -Old David”

F. Sionil José

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“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

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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

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We write from life and call it literature, and literature lives because we are in it.

F. Sionil José

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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

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Always remember: the alleviation of poverty is never a political or economic issue - it is moral.

F. Sionil Jose

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In the end, religion teaches us to value truth, justice and freedom.

F. Sionil Jose

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My reading of philosophy and history is desultory; I know so much and yet so little.

F. Sionil Jose

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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

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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

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“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

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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

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