# Quote — José Saramago, The History of the Siege of Lisbon

> Let's be guided by norms based on consensus and authority obvious as it is that any variation in the authority varies the consensus, You give no leeway, Because there can be no leeway, we live cooped up in a room and paint the world and the universe on its walls.

- Author: [José Saramago](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jose-saramago.md)
- Book: [The History of the Siege of Lisbon](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jose-saramago/the-history-of-the-siege-of-lisbon.md)
- Page: 267
- Original (pt): Orientamo-nos por normas geradas segundo consensos, e domínios, mete-se pelos olhos dentro que variando o domínio varia o consenso, Não deixas saída, Porque não há saída, vivemos num quarto fechados e pintamos o mundo e o universo nas paredes dele.
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Saramago#The_History_of_the_Siege_of_Lisbon_(1989)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/jose-saramago/the-history-of-the-siege-of-lisbon/lets-be-guided

## More from this book

> Every novel is like this, desperation, a frustrated attempt to save something of the past. Except that it still has not been established whether it is the novel that prevents man from forgetting himself or the impossibility of forgetfulness that makes him write novels.

p. 47 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jose-saramago/the-history-of-the-siege-of-lisbon/every-novel-is-like.md)

> My problem in this situation is to know whether I should have blushed before or if l should be blushing now, I can recall having seen you blush once, When, When I touched the rose in your office, Women blush more easily than men, we're the weaker sex, Both sexes are weak, I was also blushing, How come you know so much about the weakness of the sexes, I know my own weakness, and something about the weakness of others.

p. 219 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jose-saramago/the-history-of-the-siege-of-lisbon/my-problem-in-this.md)