WIST Quotations

Borges, Jorge Luis -- “A Biography of Tadeo Isidoro Cruz”, The Aleph (1949) [tr. Hurley (1998)]

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

Any life, however long and complicated it may be, actually consists of a single moment — the moment when a man knows forever more who he is.

Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) Argentine writer
“A Biography of Tadeo Isidoro Cruz”, The Aleph (1949) [tr. Hurley (1998)]

Alt. trans.: "Any life, no matter how long and complex it may be, is made up of a single moment -- the moment in which a man finds out, once and for all, who he is."

Borges, Jorge Luis -- “Autobiographical Notes,” The New Yorker (19 Sep 1970)

Dave — Wed, 11 Mar 2015 12:14:24 +0000

I found America the friendliest, most forgiving, and most generous nation I had ever visited. We South Americans tend to think of things in terms of convenience, whereas people in the United States approach things ethically. This — amateur Protestant that I am — I admired above all. It even helped me overlook skyscrapers, paper bags, television, plastics, and the unholy jungle of gadgets.

Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) Argentine writer
“Autobiographical Notes,” The New Yorker (19 Sep 1970)

Borges, Jorge Luis -- “Dead Men’s Dialogue,” Dreamtigers (1960)

Dave — Tue, 03 Sep 2013 12:49:54 +0000

The flattery of posterity is not worth much more than contemporary flattery, which is worth nothing.

Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) Argentine writer
“Dead Men’s Dialogue,” Dreamtigers (1960)

Borges, Jorge Luis -- “Deutches Requiem” [tr. Palley (1958)]

Dave — Tue, 30 Jul 2013 17:17:14 +0000

To die for a religion is easier than to live it absolutely.

Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) Argentine writer
“Deutches Requiem” [tr. Palley (1958)]

Borges, Jorge Luis -- “Parable of Cervantes and Don Quixote” (Jan 1955)

Dave — Tue, 20 Aug 2013 12:52:02 +0000

Myth is at the beginning of literature, and also at its end.

Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) Argentine writer
“Parable of Cervantes and Don Quixote” (Jan 1955)

Alt. trans. by A. Hurley, "In the beginning of literature there is myth, as there is also in the end of it."

Borges, Jorge Luis -- “Partial Magic in the Quixote”, Labyrinths (1964)

Dave — Tue, 13 Aug 2013 12:34:04 +0000

Every novel is an ideal plane inserted into the realm of reality.

Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) Argentine writer
“Partial Magic in the Quixote”, Labyrinths (1964)

Borges, Jorge Luis -- “Poema de los Dones”, Dreamtigers [El Hacedor] (1960)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.

Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) Argentine writer
“Poema de los Dones”, Dreamtigers [El Hacedor] (1960)

Borges, Jorge Luis -- “The Man on the Threshold”, The Aleph (1949) [tr. Hurley (1998)]

Dave — Tue, 06 Aug 2013 21:23:08 +0000

His many years had reduced and polished him the way water smooths and polishes a stone or generations of men polish a proverb.

Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) Argentine writer
“The Man on the Threshold”, The Aleph (1949) [tr. Hurley (1998)]

See also Borges "The South [El Sur]," La Nación (1953): "On the floor, and hanging on to the bar, squatted an old man, immobile as an object. His years had reduced and polished him as water does a stone or the generations of men do a sentence." (Alt. trans. [Hurley (1998)]: "On the floor, curled against the bar, lay an old man, as motionless as an object. The many years had worn him away and polished him, as a stone is worn smooth by running water or a saying is polished by generations of mankind.")

Borges, Jorge Luis -- “The Meeting in a Dream”, Other Inquisitions [Otras Inquisiciones] (1952) [tr. Simms (1964)]

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

To fall in love is to create a religion that has a fallible god.

Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) Argentine writer
“The Meeting in a Dream”, Other Inquisitions [Otras Inquisiciones] (1952) [tr. Simms (1964)]

Borges, Jorge Luis -- (Attributed)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

While money cannot buy happiness, the advantages of poverty have been greatly exaggerated.

Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) Argentine writer
(Attributed)

Borges, Jorge Luis -- (Attributed)

Dave — Tue, 17 Sep 2013 13:46:14 +0000

Heaven and hell seem out of proportion to me: the actions of men do not deserve so much.

[El infierno y el paraíso me parecen desproporcionados. Los actos de los hombres no merecen tanto.]

Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) Argentine writer
(Attributed)

Quoted in Pilar Bravo and Mario Paoletti, ed., Borges Verbal (1999).

Borges, Jorge Luis -- Discussion published in the Columbia University Forum (1971)

Dave — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 22:49:00 +0000

As Boileau said, “La réalité n’est pas toujours vraisemblable.” Reality is not always probable, or likely. But if you’re writing a story, you have to make it as plausible as you can, because if not, the reader’s imagination will reject it.

Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) Argentine writer
Discussion published in the Columbia University Forum (1971)
(Source)

Often quoted without the first sentence, referring to Boileau, making it seem as if it is purely Borges' statement.

Borges, Jorge Luis -- Interview in Revista Extra (Jul 1976)

Dave — Tue, 10 Sep 2013 12:18:29 +0000

Being conservative is a way of being skeptic.

[Ser conservador es una forma de ser escéptico.]

Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) Argentine writer
Interview in Revista Extra (Jul 1976)
(Source)

Borges, Jorge Luis -- Poem (1940s), “You Learn [Aprendiendo]” (Attributed)

Dave — Wed, 11 Jun 2025 16:16:13 +0000

So you plant your own gardens and decorate your own soul, instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.

[Así que uno planta su propio jardín y decora su propia alma, en lugar de esperar a que alguien le traiga flores.]

Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) Argentine writer
Poem (1940s), “You Learn [Aprendiendo]” (Attributed)
(Source)

(Source (Spanish)).

Also titled as "Comes the Dawn" and "After a While". This line, when given on its own, is often elided as "Plant your own ..." or "So plant your own ..."

These lines appear to be from a poem "Aprendiendo" (or "Uno Aprende" or "Con El Tiempo"), said to be written by Borges in Spanish in the 1940s, and possibly translated to English in the late 60s/early 70s while Borges was lecturing in the US.

The English version first came to light in 1992 with an inquiry to the Ann Landers syndicated advice column about an anonymous poem found at a craft store.

Since the association of that English version to Borges, many have (sometimes vehemently) questioned Borges' authorship (due to stylistic differences from his other work). Others have claimed credit, most prominently Veronica A. Shoftstall (who said she had written the English version at age 19 in 1971, and who has since copyrighted it). The Spanish version has also been attributed to Columbian poet Yamira Hernandez. The English has even been attributed to Shakespeare, because why not?

For more information and discussion see:

Borges, Jorge Luis -- Quoted in “The Talk of the Town” column, The New Yorker (1986-07-07)

Dave — Mon, 13 Nov 2023 16:48:30 +0000

When writers die they become books, which is, after all, not too bad an incarnation.

Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) Argentine writer
Quoted in “The Talk of the Town” column, The New Yorker (1986-07-07)

This is the earliest reference I could find (which I've not been able to confirm) to this frequently attributed quotation.

Borges, Jorge Luis -- Quoted in Time (14 Feb 1983)

Dave — Tue, 27 Aug 2013 18:13:07 +0000

The Falklands thing was a fight between two bald men over a comb.

Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) Argentine writer
Quoted in Time (14 Feb 1983)

On the Falklands War.

Borges, Jorge Luis -- Speech (1946), “Hurry, Hurry [De’le, De’le],” Argentine Society of Letters [JLB 57]

Dave — Tue, 16 Jul 2013 11:53:48 +0000

Dictatorships foster oppression, dictatorships foster servitude, dictatorships foster cruelty; more abominable is the fact that they foster idiocy.

[Las dictaduras fomentan la opresión, las dictaduras fomentan el servilismo, las dictaduras fomentan la cureldad; más abominable es el hecho de que fomentan la idiotez.]

Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) Argentine writer
Speech (1946), “Hurry, Hurry [De’le, De’le],” Argentine Society of Letters [JLB 57]
(Source)

(Source (Spanish)). Given at a dinner in his honor after he had been fired from his library position by the new Juan Peron government for having signed a pro-democracy statement, and then appointed as a regional poultry and rabbit inspector.