Words

“Words are like that, they deceive, they pile up, it seems they do not know where to go, and, suddenly, because of two or three or four that suddenly come out, simple in themselves, a personal pronoun, an adverb, an adjective, we have the excitement of seeing them coming irresistibly to the surface through the skin and the eyes and upsetting the composure of our feelings, sometimes the nerves that can not bear it any longer, they put up with a great deal, they put up with everything, it was as if they were wearing armor, we might say.”
― José Saramago, Blindness

“One cannot be too careful with words, they change their minds just as people do.”
― José Saramago, Death with Interruptions

“Words were not given to man in order to conceal his thoughts.”
― José Saramago

“We use words to understand each other and even, sometimes, to find each other.”
― José Saramago