I discovered very quickly that criticism is a form of optimism, and that when you are silent about the shortcomings of your society, you're very pessimistic about that society. And it's only when you speak truthfully about it that you show your faith in that society. - Carlos Fuentes
I prefer that these reserves be spent in arguing whether Mary conceived without sin, whether Christ was God or man, rather than discussing whether my power is of divine origin and if, in short, I am deserving of it. Heresy, then, is tolerable as long as it is not employed directly against power. - Carlos Fuentes
But history does repeat itself; that is the comedy and the crime of history. Men learn nothing. Times change. Scenes change. Names change. But passions are the same. - Carlos Fuentes
Deja que toda tu nostalgia emigre, todos tus cabos sueltos; comienza, todos los días en el parto. - Carlos Fuentes
No creer en lo sobrenatural es darle ventajas al demonio. - Carlos Fuentes
¿Sabes que no puedo sentarme a escribir sin una colección de frases a la vista, sacadas de la última docena de ensayos y malas novelas traducidas que he leído? - Carlos Fuentes
Te pido, tan solo, que veas en ese granamor que dices tenerme algo suficiente, algo que pueda llenarnos a los dos sinnecesidad de recurrir a la imaginación enfermiza. - Carlos Fuentes
Nací y otro día me muero y no supe lo que pasó en medio - Carlos Fuentes
Todo quiere decir dos cosas, y tú escoges la que te conviene. - Carlos Fuentes
One wants to tell a story, like Scheherezade, in order not to die. It's one of the oldest urges in mankind. It's a way of stalling death. - Carlos Fuentes
I dalje verujem da Sunce izlazi svakoga dana i da svako novo Sunce najavljuje novi dan;dan koji je juče bio budućnost. I dalje verujem da će današnji dan, u trenutku zatvaranja jedne stranice vremena, obećati sutra – ranije nepredvidivo, kasnije neponovljivo - Carlos Fuentes
Don't classify me, read me. I'm a writer, not a genre. - Carlos Fuentes
Como que hay que guardar siempre las distancias, porque si no parece que se anda uno entregando demasiado. - Carlos Fuentes
Since in the world you imagines, a world without power and money, with no prohibitions, with no pain or death, each man would be God, and God therefore would not be possible. He would be a lie, because His attributes would be those of every man, woman and child: grace, immortality and supreme good. - Carlos Fuentes
Yo no soy mexicano. Yo no soy gringo. Yo no soy chicano. No soy gringo en USA y mexicano en Mexico. Soy chicano en todas partes. No tengo que asimilarme a nada. Tengo mi propia historia. - Carlos Fuentes