Home
Authors
Tags
App
Get QuoteDark Inspirational Quotes App
" Self-respect, the value of 'face,' is universal but is most pronounced in China, then in Japan where the Confucian ethic is most influential. "
F. Sionil Jose
Japan
Value
Face
Related Quotes:
" The literary depiction of life and its moral dilemmas compel us to use our conscience, to make those infallible distinctions between right and wrong. "
F. Sionil Jose
Life
Wrong
Right
" In the '50s, I was traveling alone all over Mindanao, Basilan, all the way to Tawi-Tawi with just a camera and a notebook. I always stayed in the houses of Moros. "
F. Sionil Jose
Camera
Over
Alone
" November is auspicious in so many parts of the country: the rice harvest is already in, the weather starts to cool, and the festive glow which precedes Christmas has began to brighten the landscape. "
F. Sionil Jose
Harvest
Cool
Glow
" I regret that I have not written more, shouted louder, and acted out my beliefs. "
F. Sionil Jose
Regret
Out
More
" You can't have integrity for breakfast, but try and keep it because it is perhaps the single most important word that defines not just writers but all human beings. "
F. Sionil Jose
Important
Breakfast
You
" My wife and I often visit Rosales and the Ilokos as a matter of habit or whim induced by nostalgia, homesickness - whatever draws pilgrims to worshipped sanctuaries. Or, perhaps, what compels moths to seek the votive flame. "
F. Sionil Jose
Flame
Nostalgia
Matter
" You perhaps know me as a novelist. Literature is one of the arts - in fact, the noblest of the arts. That is not my opinion; it was first expressed by the ancients. As art, literature has many similarities with the other art forms. "
F. Sionil Jose
Literature
Opinion
You
" Like so many poor Ilokanos, my grandparents left their village, for it could no longer sustain them. The Ilocos is a narrow coastal plain where, so often, the mountain drops to the sea. Land hunger had always afflicted the Ilokanos and made them migratory. "
F. Sionil Jose
Grandparents
Mountain
Sea
" Past middle age, some friends suggested that I should have my eyebags removed, the deepening creases on my face stretched. I often examined my face in the mirror, imagining how I'd look if I followed the suggestion. I decided to retain the old mug. I was too familiar and comfortable with it. And the final hindrance: the cost. "
F. Sionil Jose
Look
Age
Past
" From antiquity, Latin died but is still studied in seminaries and elite universities. So did Sanskrit in Asia. iI was replaced by Pali, but even Pali died, too. Linguists say the only ancient language which was resuscitated from the grave was Hebrew of Israel. "
F. Sionil Jose
Say
Asia
Only
" You should live in a manner that should enable you to devote time to writing and contemplation. As is often said, the writer is at work even when he is simply looking out the window. "
F. Sionil Jose
Looking
Live
Time
" As artists, we must not go down to the level of the masa; we should bring them up, intellectualize our languages, create classics out of our folk arts. We can do this if we are true to our roots and strive for excellence. "
F. Sionil Jose
True
Roots
Excellence
" I can imagine the writers of China, England and France, crippled and unsure of themselves when they feel that the ghosts of Confucius, Mencius, Chaucer and Shakespeare and Victor Hugo are looking over their shoulders. "
F. Sionil Jose
Feel
Ghosts
I Can
" I tell young people who ask me about a future in writing not to go into it unless they get married to someone rich. "
F. Sionil Jose
People
Future
Me
" I can't understand Urdu, Bahasa or Russian, but when the Pakistani Faiz, the Indonesian Rendra and the Russian Rosdentvensky declaim, I can feel the living throb of rhythm and music, the warmth and passion of their poetry, as do the hundreds, not a mere roomful, of poetry lovers in the audience. "
F. Sionil Jose
Passion
Music
Feel
" All through history, a nation or a civilization's enduring glory is articulated by its mega constructions - the pyramids, the lofty cathedrals of the Christian world. "
F. Sionil Jose
World
History
Christian
" We are shallow because we are 'mayabang,' ego driven, and do not have the humility to understand that we are only human, much too human to mistake knowledge for wisdom. "
F. Sionil Jose
Humility
Wisdom
Mistake
" Always remember: the alleviation of poverty is never a political or economic issue - it is moral. "
F. Sionil Jose
Political
Remember
Poverty
" Professional societies are sooner or later fractured by the ego of their leaders. Everyone wants to be president, chairman, CEO; no one wants to be a mere follower. "
F. Sionil Jose
Everyone
Professional
Ego
" We are shallow because we have become enslaved by gross materialism, the glitter of gold and its equivalents, for which reason we think that only the material goods of this earth can satisfy us and we must therefore grab as much as can while we are able. "
F. Sionil Jose
Earth
Glitter
Gold
" We recognize the distinctness of Asian art when we turn to its traditional forms, recognize it as Japanese, Chinese and Indian, even Balinese or Thai. "
F. Sionil Jose
Indian
Chinese
Art
" Some lucky people can be funny without half trying because they actually look funny, because acting funny is in their bones - fun as funny, not funny as crude slapstick. "
F. Sionil Jose
Funny
Trying
People
" Christianity doesn't demand that we worship our ancestors. If we don't remember our ancestors, then, in all likelihood, we cannot also recall the distant past. "
F. Sionil Jose
Then
Worship
Past
" My reading of philosophy and history is desultory; I know so much and yet so little. "
F. Sionil Jose
Reading
Know
Much
" I said that if I were an industrialist or entrepreneur, I would invest in agriculture-based enterprises, for there is so much that can be done in manufacturing, in food preservation. "
F. Sionil Jose
Entrepreneur
Done
Food
" Ninoy Aquino was a friend; I knew his faults, which were outweighed by his virtues. "
F. Sionil Jose
Faults
Knew
Friend
" In the visual arts, particularly painting, I distrust all those abstractions, those artificial constructions. I have a very simple way of judging them: if I can do them, they are not art. "
F. Sionil Jose
Art
I Can
Simple
" To fund major cultural efforts, we must not rely alone on government and foundation patronage; if the farmer can spend for beer, he can pay for good entertainment which he can understand, which he can identify with and which will fortify his spirit. "
F. Sionil Jose
Farmer
Government
Beer
" Language as a communication tool is the primary element from which literature is created. Even in pre-literate societies, it exists as songs, riddles, or epics that are chanted. "
F. Sionil Jose
Language
Communication
Literature
" A weak people and its equally debilitated leaders are bludgeoned by history. It maims them into the cripples that they are meant to be. "
F. Sionil Jose
People
Meant To Be
Weak