“There are only three truths. That which can be known. That which can never be known. The third, which concerns the writer… — Miguel Syjuco Copy Share Image
Touching on universality is an important part of effective storytelling, but the problem with cliches is that they are tired and dull.… — Miguel Syjuco Copy Share Image
“How can anyone underestimate the ballistic quality of words? Invisible things happen in intangible moments. What should keep us writing is precisely… — Miguel Syjuco Copy Share Image
If I were to go back to the Philippines, I would probably end up teaching creative writing at a university. I wouldn't… — Miguel Syjuco Copy Share Image
“I used to believe authenticity could be achieved solely by describing, in our own words, one's own fragment of experience. This was… — 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
What I do know is that writing is the thing I am best at, and I don't have the stomach, the ability,… — Miguel Syjuco Copy Share Image
To be an honest writer, you have to be away from home, and totally alone in life. — Miguel Syjuco Copy Share Image
I treat my writing like a day job, like my main job, even if for many years I was doing other jobs… — 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… — 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
