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In the course of a life devoted less to living than to reading, I have verified many times that literary intentions and theories are nothing more than stimuli and that the final work usually ignores or even contradicts them.

Jorge Luis Borges

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Jorge Luis Borges
Age: 86 †
Born: 1899
Born: August 24
Died: 1986
Died: March 26
Librarian
Literary Critic
Poet
Screenwriter
Translator
Writer
Buenos Ayres
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges
Chorche Louis Borches
Jorge Luis Borges Acevedo
Horhe Luis Borhes
J. L. Borges
H. Bustos Domecq
Khorkhe Luyis Borkhes
Borges
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo
Course
Devoted
Even
Literature
Literary
Verified
Work
Reading
Final
Stimuli
Life
Less
Finals
Contradicts
Times
Intention
Ignores
Living
Usually
Stimulus
Theory
Intentions
Nothing
Courses
Theories
Many

More quotes by Jorge Luis Borges

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It also occurred to him that throughout history, humankind has told two stories: the story of a lost ship sailing the Mediterranean seas in quest of a beloved isle, and the story of a god who allows himself to be crucified on Golgotha.
Jorge Luis Borges
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Every novel is an ideal plane inserted into the realm of reality.
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Heaven and hell seem out of proportion to me: the actions of men do not deserve so much.
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We have a very precise image - an image at times shameless - of what we have lost, but we are ignorant of what may follow or replace it.
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I suppose identity depends on memory. And if my memory is blotted out, then I wonder if I exist - I mean, if I am the same person. Of course, I don't have to solve that problem. It's up to God, if any.
Jorge Luis Borges
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Life and death have been lacking in my life.
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I have committed the worst of sins one can commit... I have not been happy.
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You don't have to try to be contemporary. You are already contemporary. What one has in mythology is being evolved all the time. Personally, I think I can do with Greek and Old Norse mythology. For example, I don't think I stand in need of planes or of railways or of cars.
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Any life, however long and complicated it may be, actually consists of a single moment — the moment when a man knows forever more who he is.
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That is what always happens: we never know whether we are victors or whether we are defeated.
Jorge Luis Borges
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The things that are said in literature are always the same. What is important is the way they are said.
Jorge Luis Borges
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Personally, I am a hedonistic reader I have never read a book merely because it was ancient. I read books for the aesthetic emotions they offer me, and I ignore the commentaries and criticism.
Jorge Luis Borges
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My advanced age has taught me the resignation of being Borges.
Jorge Luis Borges
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Translations are a partial and precious documentation of the changes the text suffers.
Jorge Luis Borges
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What will die with me the day I die? What pathetic or frail image will be lost to the world? The voice of Macedonio Fernandez, the image of a bay horse in a vacant lot on the corner of Sarrano and Charcas, a bar of sulfur in the drawer of a mahogany desk?
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Two aesthetics exist: the passive aesthetic of mirrors and the active aesthetic of prisms. Guided by the former, art turns into a copy of the environment's objectivity or the individual's psychic history. Guided by the latter, art is redeemed, makes the world into its instrument, and forges, beyond spatial and temporal prisons, a personal vision.
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I try to avoid purple patches, fine writing, all that kind of thing... because I think they're a mistake. And then sometimes it comes through and sometimes it doesn't, but that's not up to me. It's up to chance.
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Thus my life is a flight and I lose everything and everything belongs to oblivion, or to him.
Jorge Luis Borges
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For myth is at the beginning of literature, and also at its end.
Jorge Luis Borges
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All writing is dreaming
Jorge Luis Borges