The Antoninos

Rome had defeated its enemies abroad but, argues Mr Watts [Edward Watts, How Rome fell into tyranny], it was undone from within by greed and inequality—and by the sort of politicians “who breach a republic’s political norms”, plus “citizens who choose not to punish them”.

All your dreams can come true if you only have the courage to pursue them with a psychopathic disregard of basic human morality.

"I do not much believe in national literature. Important as it is, the language in which you write is secondary.
[…]
What moves you most in a work of literature?
Recognition. When I must stop my reading and say to myself: 'Yes, this is true, it is just like this. I knew, but I did not know that I knew until I read it here'."

Javier Marías