Quote

Nothing better protects a human being against the stupidity of prejudice, racism, religious or political sectarianism, and exclusivist nationalism than this truth that invariably appears in great literature: that men and women of all nations and places are essentially equal, and only injustice sows among them discrimination, fear, and exploitation.

Mario Vargas Llosa

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Mario Vargas Llosa
Age: 88
Born: 1936
Born: March 28
Dramaturge
Essayist
Film Director
Journalist
Literary Critic
Novelist
Opinion Journalist
Philosopher
Playwright
Politician
Prosaist
Nothing
Religious
Prejudice
Invariably
Great
Fear
Injustice
Nationalism
Men
Political
Places
Exploitation
Truth
Among
Discrimination
Women
Protect
Essentially
Better
Equal
Appears
Sectarianism
Human
Literature
Stupidity
Sows
Humans
Nations
Racism
Protects

More quotes by Mario Vargas Llosa

Image
I couldn't imagine any other way of living, outside of books, outside my work. Which doesn't mean I am not interested in other things, of course - I am interested in many things. But the center, the crux, is always literature.
Mario Vargas Llosa
Image
A novel which persuades us of its truth is true however full of lies it may be
Mario Vargas Llosa
Image
The secret to happiness, at least to peace of mind, is knowing how to separate sex from love. And, if possible, eliminating romantic love from your life, which is the love that makes you suffer. That way, I assure you, you live with greater tranquility and enjoy things more.
Mario Vargas Llosa
Image
Reading good literature is an experience of pleasure...but it is also an experience of learning what and how we are, in our human integrity and our human imperfection, with our actions, our dreams, and our ghosts, alone and in relationships that link us to others, in our public image and in the secret recesses of our consciousness.
Mario Vargas Llosa
Image
North American society could not have reached its state of high development and modernity had it not been an open society.
Mario Vargas Llosa
Image
Even though what I enjoy most is literature, I would not want to live only in a world of fiction, cut off from the rest of life. No - I want to always have a foot in the street, to be inmersed in the activities of my contemporaries, in the times, in the place where I live.
Mario Vargas Llosa
Image
We were trained as writers with the idea that literature is something that can change reality, that it's not just a very sophisticated entertainment, but a way to act.
Mario Vargas Llosa
Image
We must mistrust utopias: they usually end in holocausts.
Mario Vargas Llosa
Image
The truths that seem most truthful, if you look at them from all sides, if you look at them close up, turn out to be either half truths or lies.
Mario Vargas Llosa
Image
A good novel is a conjunction of many factors, the main of which is without a doubt, hard work.
Mario Vargas Llosa
Image
I completely believe that - literature for me is a way of life. That's probably true of all writers or all artists. I think in the end this kind of activity absorbs one in such a way that it becomes one's way of life.
Mario Vargas Llosa
Image
When I was young, when I started to write, we were totally convinced that literature was a kind of weapon.
Mario Vargas Llosa
Image
It is rare and almost impossible for a novel to have only one narrator.
Mario Vargas Llosa
Image
There are people with a lot of prejudice, a lot of fear of the unknown. They think that immigration is a danger, when really it is a solution. This is an interesting issue, because it will be a central question of our time.
Mario Vargas Llosa
Image
Reading was such an enrichment of my life. And it was that pleasure that I had as a very young reader probably that is the origin of my vocation.
Mario Vargas Llosa
Image
Its easy to know what you want to say, but not to say it
Mario Vargas Llosa
Image
Since it is impossible to know what's really happening, we Peruvians lie, invent, dream and take refuge in illusion. Because of these strange circumstances, Peruvian life, a life in which so few actually do read, has become literary.
Mario Vargas Llosa
Image
You cannot teach creativity - how to become a good writer. But you can help a young writer discover within himself what kind of writer he would like to be.
Mario Vargas Llosa
Image
Do the rhetorical quarrels of bourgeois political parties have anything to do with the interests of the humble and downtrodden?
Mario Vargas Llosa
Image
I convinced her that her first loyalty isn't to other people, but to her own feelings.
Mario Vargas Llosa