The vitality of a culture is in its capacity to assimilate foreign influences. The culture that's defensive and closed condemns itself to decadence.
Juan GoytisoloAnd with each day that passed, the gulf broadened and my isolation became more accentuated. In such a situation, the discovery that my experience was not unique, that it had also been that of other Spanish intellectuals, became very important for me.
Juan GoytisoloAs I began to discover my own truth and endeavored to possess it with CLARITY, I became more and more alienated from that which my companions held, or professed to hold.
Juan GoytisoloI not only lived physically away from my native land, but the values and critical judgments of those closest to me became stranger and stranger.
Juan Goytisolo