José Eduardo Agualusa quotes
1960 – · Angola, 20th–21st century · writer, journalist and columnist
About José Eduardo Agualusa
Born 13 December 1960 in Huambo, Agualusa studied agronomy and silviculture in Lisbon before beginning a literary and journalistic career in the late 1980s. His novels, stories and chronicles revisit Angola’s colonial and postcolonial past, explore identity and exile, and have been translated internationally and honored with awards.
Works: A General Theory of Oblivion (Teoria Geral do Esquecimento), The Book of Chameleons (O Vendedor de Passados), The Conspiracy (A Conjura), The Society of Reluctant Dreamers
Quotes
“When people look at clouds they do not see their real shape, which is no shape at all, or maybe every shape, because they are constantly changing. They see whatever it is that their heart yearns for.”
Source: A General Theory of Oblivion, 2012 · Check the source
Verified attributionWhat we know
- What is documented
- The observation appears in José Eduardo Agualusa's novel A General Theory of Oblivion (Teoria Geral do Esquecimento) and is reliably attributed to him.
The cloud image shows that perception is shaped by feeling: when forms are indeterminate, people supply the outline their heart wants. In Agualusa's novel this observation ties private longing to collective memory and the instability of what we call reality.