Do not underestimate the human being, who sometimes appears so simple. Even with sight as sharp as an eagle, a mind as sharp as a razor, senses more powerful than gods, hearing that can catch the music and the lamentations of life, your knowledge of humanity will never be total.
Pramoedya Ananta ToerEvery award for me is important because it means a slap against militarism and fascism in Indonesia.
Pramoedya Ananta ToerAn educated person must learn to act justly, beginning, first of all, with his thoughts, then later in his deeds. That is what it means to be educated.
Pramoedya Ananta ToerI will not close my eyes, neither those in my head nor those in my soul, as the ship carries me away, along with my future, my dreams, and my beliefs. Buru Island is no happy land somewhere; it's but a way station on my journey in life—though to believe even that much will require no small measure of hope.
Pramoedya Ananta Toer