Roberto Bolaño Quotes - Page 2

As time goes by, as time goes by, the whip-crack of the years, the precipice of illusions, the ravine that swallows up all human endeavour except the struggle to survive.

I wrote this book for the ghosts, who, because they're outside of time, are the only ones with time. After the last rereading (just now), I realize that time isn't the only thing that matters, time isn't the only source of terror. Pleasure can be terrifying too, and so can courage.

You have to listen to women. You should never ignore a woman's fears.

Reading is more important than writing.

For her, reading was directly linked to pleasure, not to knowledge or enigmas or constructions or verbal labyrinths…

Reading is never a waste of time.

I didn't hit her, man, what happened was that Maria was obsessed with the Marquis de Sade and wanted to try the spanking thing," said Luscious Skin.
"That's very Maria," said Pancho. "She takes her reading seriously.

It was the tyrannical, slightly stupid thing you say after you've made love.

We're artists too, but we do a good job hiding it, don't we?

And I thought:History is like a horror story.

The pain, or the memory of pain, that here was literally sucked away by something nameless until only a void was left. The knowledge that this question was possible: pain that turns finally into emptiness. The knowledge that the same equation applied to everything, more or less.

Every hundred feet the world changes

That's a pretty story,' said Afanasievna as she let go of Ansky's genitals. 'A pity I'm too old and have seen to much to believe it.'

It has nothing to do with belief,' said Ansky, 'it has to do with understanding, and then changing.

I decided to tell the truth even if it meant being pointed at.

Artaud decía que escribir era una marranada, que todos los escritores eran unos cerdos, sobre todo los de ahora. Lo suscribo. Sin embargo, pese a todo, continúo admirando a los jóvenes escritores. De la misma forma que admiro a los jóvenes boxeadores

Ésta es mi última transmisión desde el planeta de los monstruos. No me sumergiré nunca más en el mar de mierda de la literatura.

You can woo a girl with a poem, but you can't hold onto her with a poem. Not even with a poetry movement.

A person could be immensely happy reading only him or the writers he loved. But that would be too easy.

When you know something, you know it, and when you don't, you'd better learn. And in the meantime, you should keep quiet, or at least speak only when what you say will advance the learning process.