"Inside us there is something that has no name, that something is what we are."
— José Saramago (Blindness)

"We use words to understand each other and even, sometimes, to find each other."
— José Saramago

"Men are all the same, they think that because they came out of the belly of a woman they know all there is to know about women."
— José Saramago

". . . if there is a way for the world to be transformed for the better, it can only be done by pessimism; optimists will never change the world for the better. "
— José Saramago

"Reading is probably another way of being in a place."
— José Saramago (El Hombre Duplicado)

"...but it is also true, if this brings her any consolation, that if, before every action, we were to begin weighing up the consequences, thinking about them in earnest, first the immediate consequences, then the probably, then the possible, then the imaginable ones, we should never move beyond the point where our first thought brought us to a halt."
— José Saramago

"We never consider that the things dogs know about us are things of which we have not the faintest notion."
— José Saramago (Death With Interruptions)

"You know the name you were given, you do not know the name that you have"
— José Saramago

"Se podes olhar, vê. Se podes ver, repara."
— José Saramago (Blindness)

"Los únicos interesados en cambiar el mundo son los pesimistas, porque los optimistas están encantados con lo que hay."
— José Saramago

"blindness is a private matter between a person and the eyes with which he or she was born."
— José Saramago (Blindness)

"We say Fine, even though we may be dying, and this is commonly known as taking one's courage in both hands, a phenomenon that has only been observed in the human species."
— José Saramago

"Gostar é provavelmente a melhor maneira de ter,
ter deve ser a pior maneira de gostar."
— José Saramago

"هيچ كس در خانواده ی ما لب ندارد.دست كم در رگ چينی من چنين است.فقط من هستم
كه لب دارم،آن هم چه لبی.لب هايی كه آنقدر گنده است كه راه نفسم را بند می آورد.هر كدام از
عكس های يادگاری خانوادگی مان را كه نگاه كنيد،برادرها و خواهرم را می بينيد كه لبخند
می زنند.چشم ندارند فقط شكافی نازك.لب هم ندارند فقط دندان.غير از من كه چشم های درشت
ورقلنبيده دارم كه نمی بينيد شان.چون عينك دسته شاخی پروانه ای زده ام.دهانم را
هم بسته ام كه لب هايم گنده به نظر نرسد.مادرم می گويد:"كاری از
".دستت بر نمی آيد.لب های پدر اهل هاوايی ات را به ارث برده ای
كاش موسيقی آن ها را ياد می گرفتم.كاش ترانه های هاوايی را بلد بودم نه مثل
عموهايم كه هر وقت مست می شدند، زير لبی زمزمه كنم.كاش می توانستم موقع رقص
پاهايم را چنان تا كنم كه معلم رقص هولا به پشت پايم نزند.كاش می توانستم با دست هايم
قصه بگويم و با كپل های لرزان جزيره را بجنبانم، آن وقت دلم نمی سوخت.اما چيزی
.كه از بابام به من رسيد همين لب های بی قواره ی گنده است
برادرم بوزی می گويد:"لب يوپه په."حتی عكس های مجله ی"نشنال جئوگرافيك"را
.نشانم می دهد كه زن هايی كه همه چيزشان معلوم است توی لب شان بشقاب و نعلبكی كرده اند
".می گويم:"اولاٌ كه يوپه په نيستند.اوبانگی هستند
".می گويد:"چه فرقی می كند؟ هر دو يكی هستند
.تمرين و ورزش را آغاز می كنيم
هر روز صبح كه بيدار می شوم لب هايم را محكم به هم فشار می دهم كه خيلی گنده نشود.بعد
به برادرم بنجی كمك می كنم كه بينی اش از جا در نرود.می گويم:"بينی ات را اينطور
بگير وسط انگشت هايت تا پخ نشود.اگر بينی درست و حسابی و خوشگل می خواهی بهتر است
".به حرف من گوش كنی
.نمی داند باور كند يا باور نكند.اما می ترسد که ادامه ندهد
از عكاس مدرسه می خواهم لب مرا پاك كند.دوست دخترم به من می گويد كه او
می تواند همه چيز را پاك كند.فقط از آدم مي پرسد چطور؟ چرا و چطورش
.را نمی دانم.می گويد:"لب های توكه خيلی قشنگ است!"اما به هر حال كار خودش را می كند
با عكس به خانه می روم.می دانم آن را را كجا بگذارم.توی هال كه همه سر راه دست شويی
و حمام از آن رد می شوند.همان جايی كه لب های قبلی ام آويزان بود.می خواهم بدهم از
روی اين عكس پنجاه تا چاپ كنند و برای عمه و خاله و دايی و زن دايی بفرستم و برای
.يادگاری به دوستانم بدهم
وقتی نفس بريده و تب آلود به خانه می رسم، عكس را در هوا تكان
"می دهم.مادرم نگاهی می كند و می گويد:"ماهلانی سر لب هايت چه بلايی آمده؟
"می گويم:"چيزی نشده.نمی خواهی عكس مرا قاب بگيری؟



"
— José Saramago

"Liking is probably the best form of ownership, and ownership the worst form of liking."
— José Saramago (The Tale of the Unknown Island)

"خردمند کسی است که به تماشای دنیا قناعت می کند؟؟؟
بی شک اشک غم شورتر از اشک شادی ست
چون چشم ها را می سوزاند"
— José Saramago

"Oh, I'm not just going too far, I've arrived."
— José Saramago

"Words were not given to man in order to conceal his thoughts"
— José Saramago

"This is the effect of panic, a natural effect, you could say that animal nature is like this, plant life would behave in exactly the same way, too, if it did not have all those roots to hold it in the ground, and how nice it would be to see the trees of the forest fleeing the flames."
— José Saramago

"Deus vê nos corações e não precisa de que alguém absolva em seu nome, e se os pecados forem tão grandes que não devam passa sem castigo, este virá pelo caminho mais curto, querendo o mesmo Deus, ou serão julgados em lugar próprio,quando o fim dos tempos chegar, se, entretanto, as boas acções não compensarem por si mesmas as más"
— José Saramago (Baltasar and Blimunda)

"o que vem amanhá é que conta, hoje é sempre nada"
— José Saramago (Baltasar and Blimunda)

""Si antes de cada acción, pudiésemos prever todas sus consecuencias,
nos pusiésemos a pensar en ellas seriamente, primero en las consecuencias inmediatas, después, las probables, más tarde las posibles, luego las imaginables, no llegaríamos siquiera a movernos de donde el primer pensamiento nos hubiera hecho detenernos."
"
— José Saramago

"not only does the universe have its own laws, all of them indifferent to the contradictory dreams and desires of humanity, and in the formulation of which we contribute not one iota, apart, that is, fromm the words by which we clumsily name them, but everything seems to indicate that it uses these laws for aims and objectives that transcend and always will transcend our understanding. "
— José Saramago

"Ser hombre no deberia significar nunca un impedimento para actuar como un caballero"
— José Saramago

"We say to the confused, Know thyself, as if knowing yourself was not the fifth and most difficult of human arithmetical operations, we say to the apathetic, Where there's a will, there's a way, as if the brute realities of the world did not amuse themselves each day by turning that phrase on its head, we say to the indecisive, Begin at the beginning, as if beginning were the clearly visible point of a loosely wound thread and all we had to do was to keep pulling until we reached the other end, and as if, between the former and the latter, we had held in our hands a smooth, continuous thread with no knots to untie, no snarls to untangle, a complete impossibility in the life of a skein, or indeed, if we may be permitted one more stock phrase, in the skein of life."
— José Saramago

"The day before is what we bring to the day we're actually living through, life is a matter of carrying along all those days-before just as someone might carry stones, and when we can no longer cope with the load, the work is done, the last day is the only one that is no the day before another day."
— José Saramago (The Cave)

"...this is the way fate usually treats us, it's right there behind us, it has already reached out a hand to touch us on the shoulder while we're still muttering to ourselves, It's all over, that's it, who cares anyhow."
— José Saramago (The Tale of the Unknown Island)

"The amber light came on."
— José Saramago

"The sun appears in one of the upper corners of the rectangle, on the left of anyone looking at the picture."
— José Saramago (The Gospel According to Jesus Christ)

""Bien gracias..., es lo que decimos cuando no queremos mostrar nuestra debilidad, decimos, Bien, aunque nos estemos muriendo, a esto le llama el vulgo hacer de tripas corazón, fenómeno de conversión visceral que sólo en la especie humana ha sido observado.""
— José Saramago

"a man was on his way to the gallows when he met another, who asked him: where are you going, my friend? and the condemned man replied: i'm not going anywhere. they're taking me by force."
— José Saramago (The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis)

"A tree weeps when cut down, a dog howls when beaten, but a man matures when offended. "
— José Saramago

"The minds of human beings are not always entirely at one with the world in which they live, some people have trouble adjusting to reality, basically they're just weak, confused spirits who use words, sometimes very skillfully, to justify their cowardice."
— José Saramago

"Words are like that, they deceive, they pile up, it seems they do not know where to go, and, suddenly, because of two or three or four that suddenly come out, simple in themselves, a personal pronoun, an adverb, an adjective, we have the excitement of seeing them coming irresistibly to the surface through the skin and the eyes and upsetting the composure of our feelings, sometimes the nerves that can not bear it any longer, they put up with a great deal, they put up with everything, it was as if they were wearing armor, we might say."
— José Saramago (Blindness)

"The moral conscience that so many thoughtless people have offended against and many more have rejected, is something that exists and has always existed. It was not an invention of the philosophers of the Quartenary, when the soul was little more than a muddled proposition. With the passing of time, as well as then social evolution and genetic exchange, we ended up putting our conscience in the colour of blood and in the salt of tears, and, as if that were not enough, we made our eyes into a kind of mirror turned inwards, with the result that they often show without reserve what we are verbally trying to deny. Add to this general observation, the particular circumstance that in simple spirits, the remorse caused by committing some evil act often becomes confused with ancestral fears of every kind, and the result will be that the punishment of the prevaricator ends up being, without mercy or pity, twice what he deserved."
— José Saramago

"Standing there, the doctor's wife watched the two blind men who were arguing, she noticed they made no gestures, that they barely moved their bodies, having quickly learned that only their voice and hearing now served any purpose, true, they had their arms, that they could fight, grapple, come to blows, as the saying goes, but a bed swapped by mistake was not worth so much fuss, if only all life's deceptions were like this one, and all they had to do was to come to some agreement, Number two is mine, yours is number three, let that be understood once and for all, Were it not for the fact that we're blind this mix-up would never had happened, You're right, our problem is that we're blind. The doctor's wife said to her husband, The whole world is right here."
— José Saramago

"There is no one here, said the girl with dark glasses, and burst into tears leaning against the door, her head on her crossed forearms, as if her with her whole body she were deperately imploring pity, if we did not have enough experience of how complicated the human spirit can be we would be surprised that she should be so fond of her parents as to indulge in these demonstrations of sorrow, a girl so free in her behaviour, but not far away is someone who has already affirmed that there does not exist nor ever has existed any contradiction between the one and the other."
— José Saramago

"Unlike Joseph her husband, Mary is neither upright nor pious, but she is not blame for this, the blame lies with the language she speaks if not with the men who invented it, because that language has no feminine form for the words upright and pious."
— José Saramago (The Gospel According to Jesus Christ)

""Być może w świecie ślepców wszystko będzie wreszcie prawdziwe [...] A ludzie zaczną wreszcie być sobą, ponieważ nikt nie będzie się im przyglądał""
— José Saramago

"Words have their own hierarchy, their own protocol, their own artistic titles, their own plebeian stigmas."
— José Saramago (Death With Interruptions)

""With the passage of time, as well as the social evolution and genetic exchange, we ended up putting our conscience in the color of our blood and the salt of our tears.""
— José Saramago

"(...) que seria de nós se não sonhássemos."
— José Saramago (Baltasar and Blimunda)

"talvez as lágrimas não sejam mais do que isso, o alívio duma ofensa."
— José Saramago (Baltasar and Blimunda)

"Yet human experience and the practice of communication have shown throughout the ages that definitions are an illusion, like having a speech defect and trying to say love but unable to get the word out, or, better, having a tongue in one's head but unable to feel love."
— José Saramago (The Gospel According to Jesus Christ)

"La dura experiencia de la vida nos ha demostrado que no es aconsejable confiar demasiado en la naturaleza humana, en general. "
— José Saramago

"Es gibt Situationen, da sind Wörter nutzlos, ich wollte, ich könnte auch weinen, alles mit Tränen sagen, und müsste nicht sprechen."
— José Saramago (Blindness)

"Death went on, If I'd sent you, with your taste for expeditious methods, the matter would have been resolved, but times have changed a lot lately, and one has to update the means and the systems one uses, to keep up with the new technologies, by using e-mail, for example, I've heard tell that it's the most hygienic way, one that does away with inkblots and fingerprints, besides which it's fast, you just open up outlook express on microsoft and it's gone, the difficulty would be having to work with two separate archives, one for those who use computers and another for those who don't, anyway, we've got plenty of time to think about it, they're always coming out with new models and new designs, with new improved technologies, perhaps I'll try it some day, but until then, I'll continue to write with pen, paper and ink, it has the charm of tradition, and tradition counts for a lot when it comes to dying."
— José Saramago (Death With Interruptions)

" What does reading do, You can learn almost everything from reading, But I read too, So you must know something, Now I'm not so sure, You'll have to read differently then, How, The same method doesn't work for everyone, each person has to invent his or her own, whichever suits them best, some people spend their entire lives reading but never get beyond reading the words on the page, they don't understand that the words are merely stepping stones placed across a fast-flowing river, and the reason they're there is so that we can reach the farther shore, it's the other side that matters, Unless, Unless what, Unless those rivers don't have just two shores but many, unless each reader is his or her own shore, and that shore is the only shore worth reaching."
— José Saramago

"tambien de este modo como el destino acostumbra a comportarse con nosotros, ya esta pisandonos los talones, ya extendio la mano para tocarnos en el hombro, y nosotros todavia vamos murmurando, Se acabo, no hay nada mas que ver, todo es igual"
— José Saramago (CUENTO DE LA ISLA DESCONOCIDA, EL)

"When all is said and done, what is clear is that all lives end before their time."
— José Saramago (Blindness)