But what do I have? The things I'm told and the things I tell, that's all. And as far as I know, that never yet made anyone fly.

Its easy to know what you want to say, but not to say it

I think in a country like mine, violence is at the root of all human relations.

If you are killed because you are a writer, that's the maximum expression of respect, you know.

The secret to a masterpiece is 10 percent inspiration and 90 percent perspiration.

I learned to read at the age of five, in Brother Justiniano's class at the De la Salle Academy in Cochabamba, Bolivia. It is the most important thing that has ever happened to me. Almost seventy years later I remember clearly how the magic of translating the words in books into images enriched my life, breaking the barriers of time and space.

Death isn't enough. It doesn't remove the stain. But a slap, a whiplash, square on the face, does. Because a man's face is as sacred as his mother or his wife.