Carlos Quotes

Antonio answers losing money with a claim about building the gate. The work is supposed to make the people taking his money indebted to him on a much larger scale: without his labor, they could not live there at all. Carlos does not dispute that Antonio worked. He restores the other workers to the account, and the third man confirms the collective effort. That correction changes what the memory can legitimately purchase. A shared achievement cannot establish Antonio's exclusive right to be treated as everyone's benefactor. Carlos also identifies the occasion on which the story keeps appearing, making it a recurring defense against losing rather than a neutral recollection of construction. The exchange preserves the value of the labor while refusing its conversion into permanent exemption from an unrelated disappointment. Antonio wants the past to settle the present dispute; his companions remember too much of it to accept his version.