“Nothing in my life ever happened that was as important to me as learning to read.”

“The ability to read becomes devalued when what one has learned to read adds nothing of importance to one's life.”

“I learned to read at the age of five, in Brother Justiniano’s class at the De la Salle Academy in Cochabamba, Bolivia. It is the most important thing that has ever happened to me. Almost seventy years later I remember clearly how the magic of translating the words in books into images enriched my life, breaking the barriers of time and space...”

“Almost nothing important that ever happens to you happens because you engineer it.”

“Everything that ever happened to me that was important happened in the desert.”

“Secondly, I continued my education in a more important way, through the observation of everyone around me, because nothing is more important to learn in life than the interaction of a human being with another human being.”