F. Sionil Jose

“I have always admired teachers because teaching, like the priesthood, medicine and writing, is a vocation. You don't become a teacher because you want wealth. It is the same with writing.”

“My wife and I often visit Rosales and the Ilokos as a matter of habit or whim induced by nostalgia, homesickness - whatever draws pilgrims to worshipped sanctuaries. Or, perhaps, what compels moths to seek the votive flame.”

“Tourists as well as natives want to see cultural achievements - whether it's the Banaue Terraces, the old churches or museums.”

“What is needed in the theater, in fact for all our art forms, is a vibrant critical tradition.”

“I said that if I were an industrialist or entrepreneur, I would invest in agriculture-based enterprises, for there is so much that can be done in manufacturing, in food preservation.”

“Writing is a solitary profession; you are really alone when you write. Then the emotions become well shaped and distinct. But their transition into words must be done deliberately and with rigid artistry.”

“The past could liberate or imprison - it creates a nation's character, provides the nourishment or the poison a people imbibe in their very marrow.”

“The heart of the theater is the play itself, how it dramatizes life to make it meaningful entertainment. To achieve depth and universality, the playwright must subject himself to intense critique, to know human character and behavior, and finally to construct art from the most mundane of human experience.”

“We are shallow because our media are so horribly shallow. Every morning, I peruse the papers, and there is so little to read in them. It is the same with radio - all that noise, that artifice.”

“Self-respect, the value of 'face,' is universal but is most pronounced in China, then in Japan where the Confucian ethic is most influential.”

“Poetry is emotion, passion, love, grief - everything that is human. It is not for zombies by zombies.”

“My reading of philosophy and history is desultory; I know so much and yet so little.”

“All dictators, the rich and famous, to the lowest security guard who holds a gun, easily forget that power is transitory.”

“The influence of teachers extends beyond the classroom, well into the future. It is they who shape and enrich the minds of the young, who touch their hearts and souls. It is they who shape a nation's future.”

“All through history, a nation or a civilization's enduring glory is articulated by its mega constructions - the pyramids, the lofty cathedrals of the Christian world.”

“From antiquity, Latin died but is still studied in seminaries and elite universities. So did Sanskrit in Asia. iI was replaced by Pali, but even Pali died, too. Linguists say the only ancient language which was resuscitated from the grave was Hebrew of Israel.”

“Literature - Eastern and Western - abounds with stories, myths, legends about the search for youth, for eternal life.”

“To fund major cultural efforts, we must not rely alone on government and foundation patronage; if the farmer can spend for beer, he can pay for good entertainment which he can understand, which he can identify with and which will fortify his spirit.”

“The literary depiction of life and its moral dilemmas compel us to use our conscience, to make those infallible distinctions between right and wrong.”

“Cultural values are, in themselves, neutral as well as universal, and so much depends on how individuals or ethnic groups use them. Values are influenced by so many factors such as geography, climate, religion, the economy and technology.”