You start by writing to live. You end by writing so as not to die.

chaos: it has no plural.

I don't think any good book is based on factual experience. Bad books are about things the writer already knew before he wrote them.

Anything would be better in the US than what you have. As a government it's really very low quality, given the fact that this country produces eminent intellectuals, has great universities, and then the people who arrive in government are very mediocre. The Latin American situation has been very different in the first place, because writers have spoken for those who have no voice. The rate of illiteracy, poverty, joblessness in Latin America has been so great throughout our history that if the writers didn't speak out for the people, nobody would.

The possibility of being as free with the camera as we are with the pen is a fantastic prospect for the creative life of the 21st century.

The Mexicans descend from the Aztecs; the Peruvians descend from the Incas; the Argentineans descend from the boats.

Writing is a struggle against silence.