Eduardo Galeano
Eduardo Galeano
Eduardo Hughes Galeanowas an Uruguayan journalist, writer and novelist considered, among other things, "global soccer's pre-eminent man of letters" and "a literary giant of the Latin American left"...
NationalityUruguayan
ProfessionMemoirist
Date of Birth3 September 1940
CityMontevideo, Uruguay
CountryUruguay
art athlete continues dwarf expect giant greece impossible manipulate powerful programme smallest teaches
The more the technocrats programme it down to the smallest detail, the more the powerful manipulate it, football continues to be the art of the unforeseeable. When you least expect it, the impossible occurs: the dwarf teaches the giant a lesson, and a scraggy, bow-legged black man makes an athlete sculpted in Greece look ridiculous.
country powerful moving
From the weak nations' point of view, it is better if there are many powerful countries then if there are just a few. The more concentrated is power, the fewer opportunities there are to move. Space for change, space for freedom to implement change is then very narrow; very small.
powerful world wealth
In this world of ours, a world of powerful centers and subjugated outposts, there is no wealth that must not be held in some suspicion.
kings powerful dirty
The big bankers of the world, who practise the terrorism of money, are more powerful than kings and field marshals, even more than the Pope of Rome himself. They never dirty their hands. They kill no-one: they limit themselves to applauding the show.
brute fantasy impose lightning soccer speed sports strength
The technocracy of professional sport has managed to impose a soccer of lightning speed and brute strength: a soccer that negates joy, kills fantasy and outlaws daring.
believes einstein field freud lady manager miracle owners science stamina subtlety worker
The manager believes soccer is a science and the field a laboratory, but the genius of Einstein and the subtlety of Freud is not enough for the owners and the fans. They want a miracle worker like Our Lady of Lourdes, with the stamina of Gandhi.
beauty became blossoms history joy sad soccer sports torn voyage
The history of soccer is a sad voyage from beauty to duty. When the sport became an industry, the beauty that blossoms from the joy of play got torn out by its very roots.
above america condemned intimate latin obsessed
I'm a writer obsessed with remembering: with remembering the past of America above all - and above all, that of Latin America, intimate land condemned to forgetfulness.
helping others perhaps writer
I think the purpose of the writer is to help us see. The writer is someone who can perhaps have the joy of helping others see.
owners
From their castle in Zurich, the owners of soccer do not propose, they impose. That's their way.
natives
In 1492, the natives discovered they were Indians; they discovered they lived in America.
defend human nature united
Here in the United States, corporations has human rights. And then why not - why not nature also, if corporations can defend themselves, saying, 'We have human rights?' Well, let's admit that nature also should be protected.
against competition difficult perfect says
It's a difficult competition against silence, because silence is a perfect language, the only language which says with no words.
became best doomed dreams legs number realized wake
I wanted to be a soccer player, and I became the best of the best, the number one, better than Maradona, better than Pele, and even better than Messi - but only at night, nighttime, during my dreams. When I wake up, I realized that I have wooden legs and that I'm doomed to be a writer.