Filipino - Writer | December 3, 1924 -
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
HarmonyRulesPlayKnowKnowingOwn
Literature - Eastern and Western - abounds with stories, myths, legends about the search for youth, for eternal life.
LifeYouthSearchLiteratureLegends
Past middle age, some friends suggested that I should have my eyebags removed, the deepening creases on my face stretched. I often examined my face in the mirror, imagining how I'd look if I followed the suggestion. I decided to retain the old mug. I was too familiar and comfortable with it. And the final hindrance: the cost.
AgeMirrorPastFaceFriendsLook
As artists, we must not go down to the level of the masa; we should bring them up, intellectualize our languages, create classics out of our folk arts. We can do this if we are true to our roots and strive for excellence.
ExcellenceRootsDownCreateTrue
In the end, religion teaches us to value truth, justice and freedom.
TruthFreedomJusticeReligionValue
I have always admired teachers because teaching, like the priesthood, medicine and writing, is a vocation. You don't become a teacher because you want wealth. It is the same with writing.
TeacherWritingMedicineYouWealth
From antiquity, Latin died but is still studied in seminaries and elite universities. So did Sanskrit in Asia. iI was replaced by Pali, but even Pali died, too. Linguists say the only ancient language which was resuscitated from the grave was Hebrew of Israel.
LanguageSayEliteIsraelAncient
I write entirely in English; Tagalog chauvinists chide me for this. I feel no guilt in doing so. But I am sad that I cannot write in my native Ilokano. History demanded this; if it isn't English I am using now, I would most probably be writing in Spanish like Rizal, or even German or Japanese.
SadHistoryI AmMeWritingDoing
Christianity doesn't demand that we worship our ancestors. If we don't remember our ancestors, then, in all likelihood, we cannot also recall the distant past.
PastRememberAncestorsWorshipOur
Like so many poor Ilokanos, my grandparents left their village, for it could no longer sustain them. The Ilocos is a narrow coastal plain where, so often, the mountain drops to the sea. Land hunger had always afflicted the Ilokanos and made them migratory.
SeaMountainVillagePoorLandLeft
I was born in an Ilokano village called Cabugawan. Most of the houses in it were roofed with thatch, pan-aw, a species of wild grass.
BornVillageGrassWildI Was Born
I tell young people who ask me about a future in writing not to go into it unless they get married to someone rich.
FuturePeopleMeWritingRichYoung
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