Quotes from F. Sionil Jose

She was benediction, a touch of faith, life itself coursing through my veins collapsed in age and turmoil, and to my fatigued and weary heart, a new and vibrant throb.

Of the Bagos:] Like the Moros in the south, they are our brothers. We must recognize their belongingness to Filipinas, their willingness to fight for her. -The Cripple

But all men die--as anonymously as they had lived, no matter what their achievements. -Istak

Why do people betray their brothers and eventually themselves? -The Cripple

How many funerals had he attended, how many open graves had he seen, watched the coffins eased down, or sometimes just a frayed mat in which the corpse was bundled, the feet sticking out, the soles white and sometimes still specked with dirt if he was a farmer and could not afford slippers, least of all shoes. -Istak

What do we do with mountains? For us who have lived most of our lives on monotonous level ground, mountains give indelible character to the landscape. They evoke wonder, awe, a multitude of questions as to their purpose, their grandeur and the mystery of creation.

None will thank me for this, nor anyone will remember. -Istak

Conquest by force is not sanctioned by God. The Americans have no right to be here. We will defeat them because we believe that this land they usurp is ours; God created it for us. The whole history of mankind has shown how faith endures while steel rusts. -Istak

It is what one really owns in the end, a name." -Istak

How can we build trust among our own people? How can we make them confident of themselves and their countrymen so that they will not sell their souls for a few silver dollars? -The Cripple

But it really all boils down to this - we don't know them, for all our sincerity, our good intentions. We don't know, because we were never one of them.

But when a person commits suicide, he does not do violence only to himself; he inflicts death upon those whom he least considered would be so afflicted.

Why do you butcher your carabao and feed a throng because your son is getting a wife?" Father always blustered to them who come asking for loans. But always, in the end, the tenants got the money--what they needed for a "decent" funeral, a baptism, a wedding. And as their debts piled up, they promised, "Next harvest will be good...

Hunger precipitated despair.

It is the heart which dictates, which rules, which lets us live and die.

There is nothing like the land you belong to claiming you back. But everywhere the earth is the same. -Old David

Absences can also make one forget. Absence dulls the memory and banishes those who are precious from the mind.

Now listen...You are young and you don't know many things, but do remember this: you are alone in this earth. Alone. You must act for yourself and no other. Kindness is not appreciated anymore, nor friendship. Think of yourself before you think of others. It's a cruel world and you have to be hard and cruel, too. They will strangle you if you don't strangle them first. Trust no one but your judgment--and even then, don't trust too much.

If you loved someone for many years, you become instinctively aware of his feelings, even divine his thoughts and anticipate his actions, so that it would seem that you two have really become one.

I think that I was born on a day God was fast asleep. And whatever happened after my birth was nothing but dreamless ignorance.

When I see justice sold to the highest bidder I remember Tio Baldo and how he had lost. 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.

I would like to see all this as a big joke that is being played upon us, but I have seen what was wrought in the past--the men who were destroyed without their being lifted from the dungheap of poverty, without recourse to justice.

But like my father, I have not done anything. I could not, because I am me, because I died long ago.

Who then lives? Who then triumphs when all others have succumbed?