Quotes from Antonio Munoz Molina

No escribo porque tenga cosas urgentes que decir. Escribo por el gusto de llenar las páginas en blanco del cuaderno que tengo abierto delante de mí.

El alma de las personas no está en las fotografías sino en las cosas menudas que tocaron, las que tuvieron el calor de las palmas de sus manos.

He had so little experience, or so little capacity for real introspection, he didn't imagine the guilt and anguish lying in wait; he didn't even ask himself what Judith Biely might be feeling. She didn't exist for him in an autonomous, complete way but only as a projection of his own desire

Dado que el mundo es de una complejidad pavorosa, una buena historia de ficción lo simplifica y lo hace inteligible. La ficción ayuda a largo plazo a poner las cosas en su sitio. Al final, lo que sabemos de las sociedades lo sabemos a través de ella a lo largo del tiempo.

He is summoned not by her desire but by the fact of her existence.

I think there are many more despicable people than I ever imagined.

En la memoria y en los ojos de alguien están ahora mismo las imágenes indelebles del crimen, unos ojos que en este mismo instante miran algún lugar de la ciudad, normales, serenos, tal vez, como los ojos de cualquiera.

Quien se oculta tiene siempre más prestigio que quien se muestra abiertamente.

Here in Spain, there are Argentine Jews, children and grandchildren of immigrants of Jews who fled Germany or Austria in the thirties, and in the seventies during the dictatorship, they had to go into exile again.

Nothing good ever happens by itself - it is achieved through striving, though this sometimes bears a high price.

The worth of a prize depends on the people who have received it before you.

Many of the books I read, I had to read them in French, English, or Italian, because they hadn't been translated into Spanish.

I have absolute respect for Israel and people in Israel who are critical of their own country.

As a writer, you live in permanent self-doubt; you're on permanent trial.

The '80s was the time for the great so-called modernization in Spain. It was a moment when it seemed that everything was breaking up and moving fast into modernity.

There are two types of stories: public and private.

People think that dreams are better than reality but this is not always the case; sometimes, because you dream too much, you are unable to see what you have in front of your very eyes.

If you're well-known, you're at the risk of becoming your own character. When you're alone, as a writer, you have to be unknown, putting it all on the paper.

The fact that evil exists in the world bothers me. I think that people do terrible things for ideological or political reasons. I think that evil stems from ideology. People are taught to hate.

One can criticize the Israeli government, but it is not fair to judge the people of Israel.

When I write short fiction or novellas, I like to leave a hint of the fantastic, of the unreal. If you write a completely fantastic novel with ghosts and everything, the effect is less powerful than if you portray an absolutely realistic situation and, in the middle of this, you put a layer of fantasy, of mystery.

An idea like equality between men and women, which is now accepted in the West, is quite new.

If, as a Spaniard, I am so often offended by the stereotypes that abound regarding my country, how can I accept and repeat the ones that fall even more heavily upon Israel?

I'm afraid I have an incurable urge for teaching.