5 Amazing Quotes By Jorge Luis Borges

We could fill many pages by making a selection of the best sentences by Jorge Luis Borges. His sharpness and charm left us with some wonderful reflections, which always surprise us when we surrender to the temptation to read his works.

This Argentine had a name that, in itself, was peculiar: Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo. He was born almost at the same time as the 20th century, in Buenos Aires. The most interesting thing about his profuse work is that it resists any classification. Borges is Borges, period. There are no schools or doctrines that completely contain it.

One of the great enigmas of literature is the fact that this writer, read and loved the world over, never won the Nobel Prize, although his name was always among the favorites to win. It has always been said that this was due to their political positions, which many people around the world call conservative.

In the strictly literary sense, few have achieved the universality of their ideas, the perfection of their language and the originality of their arguments. Not to mention his poetry, which is always among the most exalted. As a tribute to this writer and as a small literary feast for readers, we bring here five fascinating phrases by Jorge Luis Borges.

Best phrases by Jorge Luis Borges

1. Time, a recurrent theme treated by Borges

Jorge Luis Borges makes time one of the raw materials in his work. Past, present and future parade before him and inspire this wonderful phrase: “The future is as irrevocable as the rigid yesterday. There is nothing that is not a silent letter of the eternal indecipherable scripture, whose book is time”.

It defines time as a book, where each page continues the previous one and determines the next. The present is not there, as many claim. We are past advancing towards a future that is also already outlined by this yesterday.

2. The anonymity we will be

If there is one thing that characterizes Borges, it is his refined and intelligent humor. He turned irony into an art. This is reflected in this beautiful and blunt phrase: “ We all walk towards anonymity, but the mediocre ones arrive a little earlier ”.

In reality, we all walk towards oblivion.  No matter how many achievements are achieved, time erases the names of its authors. Those who do not perform transcendent actions or works fall prey to this oblivion earlier. But the others don’t escape either: no matter how great an achievement, there is always someone who surpasses it.

3. Democracy and statistics

This is one of Jorge Luis Borges’ most classic phrases about politics: “ For me, democracy is an abuse of statistics. And besides, I don’t think it has any value . Do you think that to solve a mathematical or aesthetic problem you should consult most people? “.

With his usual sense of humor, Borges tells us here about the fragile support of democracy: the will of the majority. This reflects an uncomfortable truth: majorities have no reason to be, in principle, any more right than minorities. It is simply a matter of statistics that imposes itself.

4. Liquid memory

Borges reminds us that memory is a dynamic and imprecise reality.  As science has also shown, we remember what we want, how we want it. Memory is not true to facts.

All of this is reflected in one of Jorge Luis Borges’ most striking phrases: “ We are our memory, we are this chimerical museum of shifting shapes, this pile of broken mirrors ”. He shows us memory as a puzzle, which always needs many pieces and which is still magical.

5. How far can you go traveling alone

Traveling alone, not literally but figuratively, makes the journey meaningless. This is what Borges emphasizes here: “ If I started a trip alone, I would spend my life going around… and I would arrive at a customs office, at an airport, possibly I would reach Ezeiza and would not go further than Ezeiza ”.

It’s as if he told us that a lonely journey is a way to get nowhere.  It’s just a transition, a midpoint, but not a goal. To travel a path alone is to take meaningless turns, but never finish leaving.

Jorge Luis Borges was one of the privileged minds of the contemporary world. His reflections and his clear vocation for the truth left us with a legacy that certainly, despite the fact that time has passed, we have not yet finished evaluating in its fair measure. Borges is one of those writers that is always worth having around, very close: on the bedside table.