Quotes from F. Sionil Jose

In death, all men are brothers. -Istak

When you love someone, that love has no limit, no measure

But you must be sure of what you want the land for. And as for your tenants, if they don't own the land, don't expect them to make sacrifices. It never works, you know. Besides, the transition shouldn't create dislocations. It isn't easy to shift from agriculture to industry.

We will love her, protect her, all of us--Bisaya, Tagalog, Ilokano, so many islands, so many tribes--because if we act as one, we will be strong and so will she be. Alone you will fall prey to every marauder that passes by. I am not asking that you love Filipinas. I am asking that you do what is right, what is duty..." -The Cripple

I have been blinded, as many of us have been blinded by our needs. I had thought of only my family--this was the limit to my responsibility, and therefore, my vision. -Istak

We must respect courage wherever we encounter it. -Tom

It is more difficult for the poor to be virtuous. -The Cripple

The bravest are usually those whom we do not know or hear about, those anonymous men who dig the trenches, who produce the food. They are the corpus--you understand that word--the body and also the soul of a nation. Eustaquio, my words are just words, but all through history--and you have studied it--it has always been the many faceless men, those foot soldiers, who have suffered most, who have died. It is they who make a nation." -The Cripple

If we could only learn to trust one another--Tagalogs trusting Ilokanos, Pampangos trusting Tagalogs. -The Cripple

All her life, she was used to being pampered, to having everything she desired, but the things that she valued were never those that could be bought but those small tokens of truth and dogged fidelity which she, herself, could not give to anyone.

Shit!" I shouted at him. "Now listen, my friend. The youth have no role. They have no jobs. They have no money. They are not in power and they do not make decisions. If there is going to be a war, they will be dumped into the army. And they will be killed like young men everywhere have been killed - whether or not they believe in the war. Having no role is their role.

So honesty then and service are rewarded by banishment and people sell themselves without so much ado because they have no beliefs--only a price.

In the end, the satisfaction which all of us seek, it seems, can come only from our discovering that we really have molded our life into whatever we want it to be.

Duty comes in many forms; at times duty to country may conflict with duty to family. Yet, with a lucid mind the guises can be torn away and in the end, duty becomes but one, and that duty is to value justice above everything--to do what is right not because someone ordains it, but because the heart which is the seat of truth decrees it so.

This was one lesson that the war taught me - that every event in time presents opportunities that are recognizable only to those with enough sensibility to see them, that it is possible to thrive in adversity in the needs of the rulers are pandered to.

I wish I were not the me that I know, that I be some unfeeling hunk of plastic, designed to take all punishment but also durable and almost indestructible.

Wisdom is the beginning of sadness.

Only with steadfast memories can we now be strong so as to undo the mistakes of the past, to begin anew and build from the rubble of their betrayal...

It was true then what Padre Jose had said, that there is evil in all of us, that only with faith and its capacity for exorcism can we master this evil. -Istak

Forgive those who are ignorant. -Bit-tik

And old Padre Jose telling him to read as much as he could for the world was open only to those who could read and this skill was the most precious gift that any teacher could give. -Istak

Virtue and wealth seldom go together. The greatest criminals are also the wealthiest men." -The Cripple

Was he the epitome of virtue because he was poor? How had it been in the village? There was foul gossip and cussedness anywhere in the world where small men had to think of their stomachs first before thinking about others." -Istak

All I can look after is my own farm, serve those who seek when they are sick. I have children to look after so that they will not know what hunger is." -Istak