Ernesto Sabato Quote
In the light of this reasoning, life seems like a long nightmare from which one can free oneself with death, which would then be like a kind of awakening. But awaken to what? The unwillingness to throw myself into absolute and eternal nothingness is what has kept me from all these attempts at suicide. In spite from everything, man has such an attachment to all that exists that he prefers to put up with its imperfection and the pain of its ugliness, rather than destroy the phantasmagoria with an act of his own will.
Ernesto Sabato
In the light of this reasoning, life seems like a long nightmare from which one can free oneself with death, which would then be like a kind of awakening. But awaken to what? The unwillingness to throw myself into absolute and eternal nothingness is what has kept me from all these attempts at suicide. In spite from everything, man has such an attachment to all that exists that he prefers to put up with its imperfection and the pain of its ugliness, rather than destroy the phantasmagoria with an act of his own will.
Related Quotes
About Ernesto Sabato
Sabato was distinguished by his bald pate and brush moustache and wore tinted spectacles and open-necked shirts. He was born in Rojas, a small town in Buenos Aires Province. Sabato began his studies at the Colegio Nacional de La Plata. He then studied physics at the Universidad Nacional de La Plata, where he earned a PhD. He then attended the Sorbonne in Paris and worked at the Curie Institute. After World War II, he lost interest in science and started writing.
Sabato's oeuvre includes three novels: El Túnel (1948), Sobre héroes y tumbas (1961) and Abaddón el exterminador (1974). The first of these received critical acclaim upon its publication from, among others, fellow writers Albert Camus and Thomas Mann. The second is regarded as his masterpiece, though he nearly burnt it like many of his other works. Sabato's essays cover topics as diverse as metaphysics, politics and tango. His writings led him to receive many international prizes, including the Miguel de Cervantes Prize (Spain), the Legion of Honour (France), the Jerusalem Prize (Israel), and the Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger (France).
At the request of President Raúl Alfonsín, he presided over the CONADEP Commission that investigated the fate of those who suffered forced disappearance during the Dirty War of the 1970s. The result of these findings was published in 1984, bearing the title Nunca Más (Never Again).