"Life is mysterious as well as vulgar."
- Roberto Bolaño
"All names disappear. Children should be taught that in elementary school. But we're afraid to teach them."
"If it was true that all effort led to a vast abyss, she had two recommendations to begin with, first, not to cheat people, and, second, to treat them properly. Beyond that, there was room for discussi..."
"Not only to myself or before the mirror or at the hour of my death, which I hope will be long in coming, but in the presence of my children and my wife and in the face of the peaceful life I’m buildin..."
"I decided to tell the truth even if it meant being pointed at."
"Does this mean that in some places I'm American and in some places I'm African American and in other places, by logical extension, I'm nobody?"
"I'm American. Why didn't I say I was African American? Because I'm in a foreign country? But can I really consider myself to be in a foreign country when I could go walking back to my own country righ..."
"[A]nd the wizened youth trembles more and more violently, wrinkles his nose and then pounces on the story. But only I know the story, the real story. And it is simple and cruel and true and it should ..."
"So everything lets us down, including curiosity and honesty and what we love best. Yes, said the voice, but cheer up, it's fun in the end."
"The American mirror, said the voice, the sad American mirror of wealth and poverty and constant useless metamorphosis, the mirror that sails and whose sails are pain."