Literature for me isn't a workaday job, but something which involves desires, dreams and fantasy.
Antonio Tabucchi

Literature is my life of course, but from an ontological point of view. From an existential point of view, I like being a teacher.
Antonio Tabucchi

My books are about losers, about people who've lost their way and are engaged in a search.
Antonio Tabucchi

My job is to look at what politics is doing, not be a politician myself.
Antonio Tabucchi

No, I'm happy to go on living the life I've chosen. I'm a university teacher and I like my job.
Antonio Tabucchi

People with lots of doubts sometimes find life more oppressive and exhausting than others, but they're more energetic - they aren't robots.
Antonio Tabucchi

Perfection spawns doctrines, dictators and totalitarian ideas.
Antonio Tabucchi

The most important basis of any novel is wanting to be someone else, and this means creating a character.
Antonio Tabucchi

The salt of any interesting civilization is mixture.
Antonio Tabucchi

There are some fundamental values it's impossible to be wrong about.
Antonio Tabucchi

We all want to be someone else but without ceasing to be ourselves. I think it's very important to defend this idea in real life too.
Antonio Tabucchi

When you have a foreign invasion - in this case by the Indonesian army - writers, intellectuals, newspapers and magazines are the first targets of repression.
Antonio Tabucchi

Xenophobia manifests itself especially against civilizations and cultures that are weak because they lack economic resources, means of subsistence or land. So nomadic people are the first targets of this kind of aggression.
Antonio Tabucchi