F. Sionil Jose

“Art, whatever form it takes, requires hard work, craftsmanship and creativity. As a writer, I know my grammar, cadence, the music of prose, and the art of the narrative.”

“In the Western tradition, the first writers were teachers and historians, vastly traveled, who spiced their reports with fantasies. They were also poets who sang and entertained prince and pauper.”

“I am for poetry that is admired by peasant and aristocrat alike.”

“In a much larger sense, the problem of Sabah is directly influenced by the duplicity of imperial Britain. For whatever devious reason, the dismantling of the British empire created divisions and violence due to ethnic and religious differences.”

“Like so many poor Ilokanos, my grandparents left their village, for it could no longer sustain them. The Ilocos is a narrow coastal plain where, so often, the mountain drops to the sea. Land hunger had always afflicted the Ilokanos and made them migratory.”

“It was in the sugar hacienda in Negros, Panay and in Central Luzon where I saw the injustices heaped upon the sugar workers, particularly the sacadas, or seasonal workers.”

“Writers are historians, too. It is in literature that the greater truths about a people and their past are found.”

“Contemplation is a luxury of the middle class, the very rich.”

“Class - or the economic status of individuals - is evident in all societies, some very well stratified by a rigid caste system determined by birth.”

“A weak people and its equally debilitated leaders are bludgeoned by history. It maims them into the cripples that they are meant to be.”

“Industrialization starts with the formation of capital - it does not matter how. It can be created by saving, by the state enforcing its will on the people, by the very rich themselves.”

“You can't have integrity for breakfast, but try and keep it because it is perhaps the single most important word that defines not just writers but all human beings.”

“In the '50s, I was traveling alone all over Mindanao, Basilan, all the way to Tawi-Tawi with just a camera and a notebook. I always stayed in the houses of Moros.”

“For decades, as literary editor, I have followed the growth of our creative writing in English. In my Solidaridad Bookshop, half of my stock consists of Filipino books written in English and in the native languages.”

“This is the harsh truth about us: not only do Filipinos ignore books, literature - we do not understand how important the arts are - not just to those of us who work at it, but to the nation as a whole.”

“Of course, we are all egoists. Egoism is so much a part of our humanity.”

“I regret that I have not written more, shouted louder, and acted out my beliefs.”

“I find it always pleasurable talking with young people, particularly those aspiring to be writers, out of nostalgia, and because I've always felt that we oldies can learn so much from them and draw from them inspiration in our flagging and rickety years.”

“Always remember: the alleviation of poverty is never a political or economic issue - it is moral.”

“We are shallow because we have become enslaved by gross materialism, the glitter of gold and its equivalents, for which reason we think that only the material goods of this earth can satisfy us and we must therefore grab as much as can while we are able.”