Jorge Luis Borges

Jorge Luis Borges ({{IPA|/ˈxoɾ.xe ˈlwis ˈboɾ.xes/}}, bôr?h?s) (August 24, 1899 – June 14, 1986) was an Argentine writer who is considered to be one of the foremost writers of the 20th century. Best-known in the English speaking world for his short stories and fictive essays, Borges was also a poet, critic, and man of letters.

Quotations

• "Mirrors and copulation are obscene, for they increase the numbers of mankind." -- (dogma of a fictional religion in "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius")
• "...as I think of the many myths, there is one that is very harmful, and that is the myth of countries. I mean, why should I think of myself as being an Argentine, and not a Chilean, and not an Uruguayan. I don't know really. All of those myths that we impose on ourselves – and they make for hatred, for war, for enmity – are very harmful. Well, I suppose in the long run, governments and countries will die out and we'll be just, well, cosmopolitans." -- Borges, 1980, according to http://www.wooster.edu/artfuldodge/interviews/borges.htm.
• "There is a concept which corrupts and upsets all others. I refer not to Evil, whose limited realm is that of ethics; I refer to the infinite." -- 'Essay: "The Avatars of the Tortoise", Borges
• "The central fact of my life has been the existence of words and the possibility of weaving those words into poetry." -- Jorge Luis Borges