I ask of any God, of any gods, that if they give immortality, I hope to be granted oblivion also.

That is what always happens: we never know whether we are victors or whether we are defeated.

I think that the reader should enrich what he is reading. He should misunderstand the text; he should change it into something else.

Had I to give advice to writers (and I do not think they need it, because everyone has to find out things for himself), I would tell them simply this; I would ask them to tamper as little as they can with their own work. I do not think tinkering does any good. The moment comes when one has found out what one can do - when one has found one's natural voice, one's rhythm. Then I do not think that slight emendations should prove useful.

In Spanish it is very difficult to make things flow, because words are over-long. But in English, you have light words.

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.

I do not write for a select minority, which means nothing to me, nor for that adulated platonic entity known as ‘The Masses’. Both abstractions, so dear to the demagogue, I disbelieve in. I write for myself and for my friends, and I write to ease the passing of time.