Pío Baroja's sharpest quotes
The top 3 according to 21 votes from people: Man: a being a millimetre above the monkey, when not a centimetre below the pig. · History is a branch of literature. · Literature cannot reflect all the darkness of life. The main reason is that literature chooses and life does not.. (Updated Nov 30, 2022.)
Man as "a millimetre above the monkey, when not a centimetre below the pig", history as a branch of literature and fools with lots of friends: the most quoted lines of Spanish novelist Pío Baroja, from The Tree of Knowledge, his memoirs and his articles, with the source of each.
Automatically translated (original in Español). See the original
Top 15
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1
Man: a being a millimetre above the monkey, when not a centimetre below the pig.
Quoted in Luis Señor, Diccionario de citas, p. 281.
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2
History is a branch of literature.
Memoirs (1955).
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3
Literature cannot reflect all the darkness of life. The main reason is that literature chooses and life does not.
Memoirs.
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4
Half angel or half beast, man is a strange animal.
Quoted in Eduardo Palomo, Cita-logía (2013), p. 155.
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5
Only fools have many friends. The greatest number of friends marks the highest reading on the dynamometer of stupidity.
Quoted in Eduardo Palomo, Cita-logía (2013), p. 36.
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6
A crowd is always easier to deceive than a single man.
Quoted in Luis Señor, Diccionario de citas, p. 484.
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7
Life is a constant struggle, a cruel hunt in which we devour one another.
The Tree of Knowledge (1911).
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8
A custom says much more about the character of a people than an idea.
Quoted in Luis Señor, Diccionario de citas, p. 106.
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9
Clinging to the Pyrenees, with a graft from the Alps, I feel arch-European.
Quoted by Luis S. Granjel, Baroja y otras figuras del 98 (1960), p. 43.
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10
The public believes the greatest nonsense with the greatest ease.
Quoted in Luis Señor, Diccionario de citas, p. 53.
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11
I believe one must live with whatever madness one has, tending it and even making use of it.
The Tree of Knowledge (1911).
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12
A long novel will always be a succession of short novels.
"Divagaciones de autocrítica".
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13
I believe that to be a writer it is enough to have something to say, in one's own words or someone else's.
Quoted in Luis Señor, Diccionario de citas, p. 329.
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14
One must laugh when they say science fails. What fails is the lie; science marches on, sweeping everything aside.
The Tree of Knowledge (1911).
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15
Most of us men swim in the ocean of vulgarity.
The Restlessness of Shanti Andía (1911), ch. 1.
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