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Jorge Luis Borges (Buenos Aires, 1899 – Geneva, 1986) was one of the most prominent Latin American writers of the 20th century.
His unmatched prose made this Argentine of illustrious origin already in his time an author worthy of analysis and study. He was a strong candidate to be awarded the Nobel Prize in
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, although he never won it, probably because of his right-wing ideals. He did obtain, among many other distinctions, the Miguel de Cervantes Prize.
Borges’ most famous phrases
In this article we are going to know the most famous phrases of Borges They are famous quotes that we have extracted from his numerous books, as well as from interviews and conferences.
How many of these have you been "meaning to read" for months?
1. You have to be careful when choosing your enemies because you end up looking like them.
If we confront someone, it is likely that we will end up adopting their same defense strategies. Great reflection.
2. Let each man build his own cathedral. Why live off other people’s and ancient works of art?
An ode to self-realization and not getting carried away by the achievements of the past.
3. Universal History is that of a single man.
A phrase open to free interpretation.
4. There may be enemies of my opinions, but I myself, if I wait a while, can also be an enemy of my opinions.
It’s just a matter of giving yourself time to find weaknesses in your own thoughts…
5. One is not what one is because of what one writes, but because of what one has read.
The greatness of reading is that it makes us wiser. Writing is just the logical consequence.
6. I don’t know to what extent a writer can be revolutionary. For now, he is working with the language, which is a tradition.
A curious reflection that can make us think.
7. I would like to be brave. My dentist assures that I am not.
An ironic phrase from the great Borges.
8. “Always” is a word that is not allowed for men.
The mere conception of something eternal is, in itself, a utopia.
9. You are not ambitious: you are content with being happy.
How do you interpret this sentence from Borges?
10. There are communists who maintain that being anti-communist is being fascist. This is as incomprehensible as saying that not being Catholic is being Mormon.
A reduction to the absurd, about one of the most used fallacies to delegitimize another person’s opinion.
11. If we really saw the Universe, maybe we would understand it.
Perhaps we live too absorbed in ways of life that completely distance us from understanding what surrounds us.
12. What other way can you threaten other than death? The interesting thing, the original thing, would be if someone threatened you with immortality.
Another irony of the Argentine genius.
13. We all walk towards anonymity, it’s just that the mediocre ones arrive a little earlier.
A solemn reflection on the unnecessaryness of fame.
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is nothing other than a directed dream.
About the conjunction between prose and building a castle in our own mind.
15. Death is a life lived. Life is a death that comes.
About the future, the past, and its ultimate reality.
16. I think it is better to think that God does not accept bribes.
About the Church (and other religions) and its desire to accumulate wealth and property.
17. I have not cultivated my fame, which will be ephemeral.
A great phrase from Borges, always reluctant to the supposed honeys of fame and popular acceptance.
18. We are our memory, we are that chimerical museum of inconstant forms, that pile of broken mirrors.
Always great and creative, with this famous quote full of poetry.
19. Only that which is gone is what belongs to us.
Perhaps in allusion to the place occupied by people and experiences that are no longer there, but that remain in our minds.
20. Happiness does not need to be transmuted into beauty, but misfortune does.
Intriguing reflection that can make us think.
21. Dollars: These are those reckless American bills that have different values and the same size.
About the value of money, very present in his work and little among his hobbies.
22. I am alone and there is no one in the mirror.
A certain nihilism floods this thought.
23. Time is the best anthologist, or the only one, perhaps.
A particularly famous phrase that perfectly summarizes the meaning of life.
24. Dreaming is the oldest aesthetic activity.
To recreate and to imagine realities that our unconscious draws.
25. You are in love when you realize that another person is unique.
About falling in love: something we have all felt at some point.
26. For the Argentine, friendship is a passion and the police is a mafia.
A brief uncomfortable portrait of the average Argentine citizen, in the eyes of the porteño.
27. I have sometimes suspected that the only thing without mystery is happiness, because it justifies itself.
A brilliant reflection that could only come from the pen of the writer from Buenos Aires.
28. Over the years I have observed that beauty, like happiness, is common. Not a day goes by that we are not, for a moment, in paradise.
Poetic and beautiful thought that can cheer us up on a cloudy day.
29. I am not talking about revenge or forgiveness, oblivion is the only revenge and the only forgiveness.
The way you rationalize and give a positive outlet to these negative feelings is impressive.
30. The verb read, like the verb love and the verb dream, does not support ‘the imperative mood’.
“The letter, with blood enters” would be, according to Borges, a tremendous error in our educational system.
31. I have committed the worst sin one can commit. I haven’t been happy.
Tormented and lonely, Borges regretted not having lived with more enthusiasm.
32. I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I don’t listen to the radio, I don’t take drugs, at least. I would say that my only vices are Don Quixote, The Divine Comedy and not reading Enrique Larreta or Benavente.
About his few but curious vices.
33. Fatherhood and mirrors are abominable because they multiply the number of men.
A touch of his misanthropy.
34. Tyrannies encourage stupidity.
Simple but vehement phrase charging against dictatorships.
35. Man’s memory forms his own inner Eden.
In our memory we can find a paradise full of happiness and good memories.
36. Don’t speak unless you can improve the silence.
We must avoid speaking only to fill the silence and ensure that our message is meaningful.
37. What you really value is what you miss, not what you have.
We only know what we have until we lose it.
38. Everything that happens to us, even our humiliations, our misfortunes, our shame, everything is given to us as raw material, like clay, so that we can shape our art.
It is up to us to build something positive or negative with what we have.
39. In my next life I will try to make more mistakes.
An ironic vision of life that encourages us to live without fear of making mistakes.
40. From my weakness, I gained strength that never left me.
Sometimes we can draw our greatest strength when we believe we are most vulnerable.
41. What man among us has never felt, walking through the twilight or writing a date from his past, that he has lost something infinite?
Remembering past times can generate great feelings of anguish, disappointment or desolation.
42. The word happiness exists in all languages; It is plausible that the thing itself exists.
A plea for happiness full of optimism.
43. Nothing is built in stone; Everything is built on sand, but we must build as if the sand were stone.
Some of our most deeply held certainties may actually be somewhat precarious beliefs in reality.
44. Time is the substance of which I am made. Time is a river that carries me, but I am the river; It is a tiger that devours me, but I am the tiger; It is a fire that consumes me, but I am the fire.
A truly poetic metaphor about time and how it shapes us all.
45. I’m not sure of anything, I don’t know anything… Can you imagine that I don’t even know the date of my own death?
A very ironic phrase about the certainties one has about life.
46. The mind was dreaming. The world was her dream.
The dream was always one of the most present elements in the work of this great author.
47. Any life, no matter how long and complicated, really consists of a single moment: the moment when a man knows forever who he is.
At that moment we will be able to find the meaning of our existence.
48. Being immortal is common; except man, all creatures are immortal, because they ignore death; What is divine, terrible, incomprehensible, is knowing that one is immortal.
A really interesting reflection on the immortality of living beings.
49. Falling in love is creating a religion that has a fallible god.
One of the most poetic and beautiful ways to explain love.
50. The sea is an idiomatic expression that I cannot decipher.
The immensity and beauty of the sea has been discussed by countless poets throughout history.
51. I’m not sure I exist, actually. I am all the writers I have read, all the people I have met, all the women I have loved; all the cities I have visited…
Everything we encounter throughout life ends up being part of us.
52. I can give you my loneliness, my darkness, the hunger of my heart, I am trying to bribe you with uncertainty, with danger, with defeat.
In some relationships we are willing to give everything of ourselves.
53. The truth never penetrates an unwilling mind.
Those who do not want to understand will never be able to do so.
54. A system is nothing more than the subordination of all aspects of the universe to any of these aspects.
Many of Borges’ quotes deal with metaphysical themes and constitute reflections of great philosophical significance.
55. Poets, like the blind, can see in the dark.
Borges wrote widely throughout his literary career about poets and their nature.
56. In general, each country has the language it deserves.
Many of his famous quotes and phrases address topics related to the idiosyncrasies of nations and peoples.
57. I thought that a man can be an enemy of other men, of other men’s moments, but not of a country: not of fireflies, words, gardens, streams of water, sunsets…
One of the many interesting reflections that we can find in Borges’ work.
58. The worst labyrinth is not that intricate shape that can trap us forever, but a single and precise straight line.
Although it may seem contradictory, sometimes complications lie in simplicity.
59. A labyrinth of symbols… A labyrinth of invisible time.
Labyrinths and time, two of the themes that this great poet and writer addressed most.
60. Censorship is the mother of metaphor.
Censorship teaches creators to express themselves in the most diverse and ingenious ways.
61. Nobody is a poet from eight to twelve and from two to six. Whoever is a poet is always and continually attacked by poetry.
Borges’ poems are among the best in the world.
62. When writers die they become books, which, after all, is not such a bad incarnation.
A truly poetic image about the writer’s craft.
63. We accept reality so easily, perhaps because we feel that nothing is real.
Borges reflected profusely on the reality of the world around us.
64. Beyond my anxiety, beyond this writing.
Borges’s literary figures completely adorn all of his immense artistic work.
65. The universe waits, inexhaustible, inviting.
A phrase full of hope and inspiration.
66. You who read me, are you sure you understand my language?
The rhetorical figures that we find in his work are internationally recognized.
67. We are as ignorant of the meaning of the dragon as we are of the meaning of the universe.
Borges often reflects on linguistics and the meaning of words.
68. Heaven and hell seem disproportionate to me: men’s actions do not deserve so much.
Borges always had a critical attitude towards religions.
69. My company is not difficult, essentially. He would only have to be immortal to carry it out.
Immortality is another of the ideas that this great Argentine poet addresses in his work.
70. Let others be proud of how many pages they have written; I prefer to brag about the ones I have read.
This great author was an avid reader throughout his life.
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PsychologyFor. (2024). The 70 Best Phrases of Jorge Luis Borges, an Unrepeatable Writer. PsychologyFor. https://psychologyfor.com/the-70-best-phrases-of-jorge-luis-borges-an-unrepeatable-writer/