I never appreciated positive heroes in literature. They are almost always cliches, copies of copies, until the model is exhausted. I prefer perplexity, doubt, uncertainty, not just because it provides a more productive literary raw material, but because that is the way we humans really are. – Jose Saramago
I am traveling less in order to be able to write more. I select my travel destinations according to their degree of usefulness to my work. – Jose Saramago
Society has to change, but the political powers we have at the moment are not enough to effect this change. The whole democratic system would have to be rethought. – Jose Saramago
Being fired was the best luck of my life. It made me stop and reflect. It was the birth of my life as a writer. – Jose Saramago
I think what is happening is I think first of all there is confidence in the U.K. economy. Were in a German rather than a Greek position in international financial markets, which is very positive and keeps our debt service costs down, and were also beginning to see real evidence of rebalancing. – Vince Cable