Baltasar and Blimunda

by José Saramago

Almighty God, when He so chooses, has no need of men, though He cannot dispense with women.

we can escape from everything, but not from ourselves.

A pregnant woman, no matter whether queen or commoner, enjoys a moment in life when she feels herself to be the oracle of all wisdom,

how cruel children can be when they are alive and well and transform their silence into death.

It takes little or nothing to undo reputations,

One’s destiny always arrives,

Let blacks and hoodlums be punished so that good example may be upheld, but let people of rank and wealth be honoured, without demanding that they pay their debts, renounce their vengeance or mitigate their hatred, and while the lawsuits are being fought, since certain little irregularities cannot be totally avoided, let there be chicanery, swindling, appeals, formalities, and evasions, so that those likely to gain a just decision will not gain it too readily, and those likely to lose their appeal will not lose it too soon.