Quotes from Jorge Luís Borges

Quieres ver lo que no vieron ojos humanos? Mira la luna. ¿Quieres oír lo que los oídos no oyeron? Oye el grito del pájaro. ¿Quieres tocar lo que no tocaron las manos? Toca la tierra.

Quain soleva ripetere che i lettori sono una specie ormai estinta. Non v'é europeo - ragiovana, - che non sia uno scrittore, in potenza o in atto. Affermava anche che, tra le diverse felicitá che puó procurare la letteratura, la piú alta é l'invenzione.

La realidad poética puede caber en una copla lo mismo que en un verso virgiliano.

Their lack of imagination makes them cruel.

Century follows century, yet events occur only in the present

In a bronze chamber, before the silent handkerchief of the strangler, hope has been faithful to me, as has panic in the river of pleasure.

The ascetic, for the greater glory of God, degrades and mortifies the flesh; Judas did the same with the spirit. He renounced honor, good, peace, the Kingdom of Heaven, as others, less heroically, renounced pleasure.

Lo que más admiro en los demás es la ironía, la capacidad de verse de lejos y no tomarse en serio. Después, el valor y la humildad, siempre que no sea ostentosa.

Parlare é incorrere in tautologie.

În vremea aceea,c?utam înser?rile,mahalalele ÅŸi nefericirea;acum caut dimineÅ£ile,centrul ÅŸi senin?tatea.

Tôi luôn m??ng t??ng r?ng Thiên ???ng cÅ©ng t?a tá»±a nhÆ° má»™t thÆ° vi?n v?y

Europe was lost, but there were other scions: The dream bequeathed a grand inheritance To people of the Orient's arid lands And those who share the sultry night with lions.

Por indecisión o por negligencia o por otras razones, no me casé, y ahora estoy solo. No me duele la soledad; bastante esfuerzo es tolerarse a uno mismo y a sus manías. Noto que estoy envejeciendo; un síntoma inequívoco es el hecho de que no me interesan o sorprenden las novedades, acaso porque advierto que nada esencialmente nuevo hay en ellas y que no pasan de ser tímidas variaciones

I suspect, however, that he was not very capable of thought. To think is to forget differences, generalize, make abstractions. In the teeming world of Funes, there were only details, almost immediate in their presence.

La frase quería ser ingeniosa y adiviné que no era la primera vez que la pronunciaba. Supe después que no era característica de ella, pero lo que decimos no siempre se parece a nosotros.

Memory is no more than the noun by which we imply that among the innumerable possible states of consciousness, many occur again in an imprecise way. - The Nothingness of Personality

Mirar el río hecho de tiempo y agua y recordar que el tiempo es otro río, saber que nos perdemos como el río y que los rostros pasan como el agua.

You are the only music my life has understood.

Todo lenguaje es un alfabeto de símbolos cuyo ejercicio presupone un pasado que los interlocutores comparten.

Once dead, there will not lack pious hands to hurl me over the banister; my sepulchre shall be the unfathomable air: my body will sink lengthily and will corrupt and dissolve in the wind engendered by the fall, which is infinite

Uneltele mele de lucru sunt umilin?a ?i angoasa; Ce n-a? da s? m? fi n?scut mort!

Giuda cercò l'Inferno, perché la felicità del Signore gli bastava. Pensò che la felicità, come il bene, è un attributo divino, cui non devono usurpare gli uomini.

Many futile hours cluster in remembrance around one hour in which there was love. - The Nothingness of Personality

Like all men of the Library, in my younger days I traveled; I have journeyed in quest of a book, perhaps the catalog of catalogs. Now that my eyes can hardly make out what I myself have written, I am preparing to die, a few leagues from the hexagon where I was born. When I am dead, compassionate hands will throw me over the railing; my tomb will be the unfathomable air, my body will sink for ages, and I will decay and dissolve in the wind engendered by my fall, which shall be infinite.