F. Sionil Jose Quotes

F. Sionil Jose

Profession : Writer

Birth : December 3, 1924

I can't understand Urdu, Bahasa or Russian, but when the Pakistani Faiz, the Indonesian Rendra and the Russian Rosdentvensky declaim, I can feel the living throb of rhythm and music, the warmth and passion of their poetry, as do the hundreds, not a mere roomful, of poetry lovers in the audience.

F. Sionil Jose

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

F. Sionil Jose

I do not want to be bored listening to music that is muffled and known only to the poet himself.

F. Sionil Jose

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

F. Sionil Jose

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.

F. Sionil Jose

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.

F. Sionil Jose

Ninoy Aquino was a friend; I knew his faults, which were outweighed by his virtues.

F. Sionil Jose

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.

F. Sionil Jose

The Japanese bureaucracy is unique. It is also very powerful, although it is now the object of so much criticism. Many of Japan's brightest made it a pillar of strength and continuity.

F. Sionil Jose

The Japanese covet important symbols - their heroic past as enshrined in Yasukuni, the Imperial family which has never been sullied by scandal.

F. Sionil Jose

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

F. Sionil Jose

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.

F. Sionil Jose

You perhaps know me as a novelist. Literature is one of the arts - in fact, the noblest of the arts. That is not my opinion; it was first expressed by the ancients. As art, literature has many similarities with the other art forms.

F. Sionil Jose

We recognize the distinctness of Asian art when we turn to its traditional forms, recognize it as Japanese, Chinese and Indian, even Balinese or Thai.

F. Sionil Jose

In the visual arts, particularly painting, I distrust all those abstractions, those artificial constructions. I have a very simple way of judging them: if I can do them, they are not art.

F. Sionil Jose

I envy those Hindus and Buddhists who have in their religion philosophy and ancestor worship which build in the believer a continuity with the past, and that most important ingredient in the building of a nation - memory.

F. Sionil Jose

Professional societies are sooner or later fractured by the ego of their leaders. Everyone wants to be president, chairman, CEO; no one wants to be a mere follower.

F. Sionil Jose

We must know our own roles. We should also know the roles that others play, and the rules such roles follow. In this manner, social harmony is maintained. It is when we overstep our roles, or act without knowing them, that social anarchy ensues.

F. Sionil Jose

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

F. Sionil Jose

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

F. Sionil Jose