Always in all my books I'm trying to reveal or help to reveal the hidden greatness of the small, of the little, of the unknown - and the pettiness of the big.

Almost all wars, perhaps all, are trade wars connected with some material interest. They are always disguised as sacred wars, made in the name of God, or civilization or progress. But all of them, or almost all of the wars, have been trade wars.

There are visible and invisible dictators. The power structure of world football is monarchical. It's the most secret kingdom in the world.

We are all mortal until the first kiss and the second glass of wine.

I'm attracted to soccer's capacity for beauty. When well played, the game is a dance with a ball.

Soccer is a feast for the eyes that watch it and a joy for the body that plays it

The poet, distracted by politics, asks of poetry that it make itself useful like metal or flour, that it get ready to stain its face with coal dust and fight body to body.