"It is a laborious madness and an impoverishing one, the madness of composing vast books - setting out in five hundred pages an idea that can be perf… - Jorge Luis Borges

"It is a laborious madness and an impoverishing one, the madness of composing vast books - setting out in five hundred pages an idea that can be perfectly related orally in five minutes. The better way to go about it is to pretend that those books already exist, and offer a summary, a commentary on them." (From the Introduction of 1941's The Garden of Forking Paths)

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About Jorge Luis Borges

Jorge Luis Borges (24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine writer who is considered one of the foremost literary figures of the 20th century. Most famous in the English speaking world for his short stories and fictive essays, Borges was also a poet, critic, translator and man of letters.

Biography information from Wikiquote

Also Known As

Pen Names: B. Suarez Lynch H. Bustos Domecq
Alternative Names: Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Chorche Louis Borches Jorge Luis Borges Acevedo Horhe Luis Borhes J. L. Borges Khorkhe Luyis Borkhes Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo

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Shorter versions of this quote

Writing long books is a laborious and impoverishing act of foolishness: expanding in five hundred pages an idea that could be perfectly explained in a few minutes. A better procedure is to pretend that those books already exist and to offer a summary, a commentary.

Additional quotes by Jorge Luis Borges

We can suspect that there is no universe in the organic, unifying sense, that this ambitious term has. If there is a universe, its aim is not conjectured yet; we have not yet conjectured the words, the definitions, the etymologies, the synonyms, from the secret dictionary of God.

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Los espejos y la cópula son abominables, porque multiplican el número de los hombres.

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