Jorge Luis Borges
Master of metaphysical fiction and labyrinths
Most quoted
"A writer — and, I believe, generally all persons — must think that whatever happens to him or her is a resource. All things have been given to us for a purpose, and an artist must feel this more intensely. All that happens to us, including our humiliations, our misfortunes, our embarrassments, all is given to us as raw material, as clay, so that we may shape our art."
— from Interview with Richard Burgin, 1967
"A man sets out to draw the world. As the years go by, he peoples a space with images of provinces, kingdoms, mountains, bays, ships, islands, fishes, rooms, instruments, stars, horses, and individuals. A short time before he dies, he discovers that the patient labyrinth of lines traces the lineaments of his own face."
— from Epilogue to 'The Maker', 1960
"I foresee that man will resign himself each day to more atrocious undertakings; soon there will be no one but warriors and brigands; I give them this counsel: The author of an atrocious undertaking ought to imagine that he has already accomplished it, ought to impose upon himself a future as irrevocable as the past."
— from The Garden of Forking Paths, 1944
All quotes by Jorge Luis Borges (325)
A writer, or any artist, is a man who has to be alone to create.
The only way to be happy is to live in the present moment.
The world is a dream, and we are the dreamers.
To be a writer is to be a solitary being.
The world is a mirror, and we are the reflections.
The universe is a vast and intricate puzzle.
The only way to escape the past is to embrace the future.
To be a human being is to be a creature of habit.
The world is a stage, and we are merely players.
The universe is a book, and we are the readers.
The only way to find truth is to question everything.
To be a philosopher is to be a lover of wisdom.
The world is a dream, and we are the dreamers of the dream.
I am a man who has lived many lives, and I have died many deaths.
The universe is a labyrinth of time.
The only way to truly live is to be willing to die.
To be a poet is to be a creator of worlds.
I am a man who has forgotten more than he remembers.
The universe is a library of infinite books.
Every man should be capable of all ideas and I believe that in the future he will be.
Contemporaries of Jorge Luis Borges
Other Literatures born within 50 years of Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986).