Quotes from Laura Esquivel

I cook. I walk. I go to the movies. I meditate.

The only way to find peace is when you are not separated, when you are not fighting, when you part of the whole.

The only way we'll know where we're going is to look at the past and to remember who we were through ceremonies and rituals.

There are still some natural forces that everybody understands. Technology and industry have distanced people from nature and magic and human values.

Technology and industry have distanced people from nature and magic and human values.

It was very pleasant to savor its aroma, for smells have the power to evoke the past, bringing back sounds and even other smells that have no match in the present. -Tita

Many people think spending an hour or two in the kitchen is a waste of time. But it is a good investment in your spiritual development.

I watch cooking change the cook, just as it transforms the food.

Cooking is one of the strongest ceremonies for life. When recipes are put together, the kitchen is a chemical laboratory involving air, fire, water and the earth. This is what gives value to humans and elevates their spiritual qualities. If you take a frozen box and stick it in the microwave, you become connected to the factory.

What has never changed, what is always present and what is, in the end, what sustains us is that energy that I talk about in 'Like Water for Chocolate...' that loving energy. Without that, I wouldn't have had the strength to keep going and enjoy life.

No matter how successful a relationship may be, both sexually and emotionally, the lack of money can hamper and undermine, little by little, even the greatest passion.

We must adjust our value systems and work to modify today's societies, in which economic interests are carried to the extreme and irrationally produce not merely objects, but weapons of war. These societies don't care about the destruction of the planet and mankind as long as they earn profits - it can't go on like this.

We know that the hardest work is to keep yourself open to the world that technology hasn't tamed.

I acknowledge the four elements. Water in the North; incense to recognize the air in the East; flowers for the earth in the South; a candle for light from the West. It helps me keep perspective.

I believe very much in sensual powers as a means of obtaining understanding.

Lo que me dijiste no cambió mi manera de pensar y te repito que me encantaría ser el compañero de toda tu vida, pero quiero que pienses muy bien si ese hombre soy yo o no. Si tu respuesta es afirmativa, celebraremos la boda dentro de unos días. Si no, yo seré el primero en felicitar a Pedro y pedirle que te dé el lugar que te mereces

Words travel as swiftly as desire, so it is possible to send a message of love without them.

Tita bajó la cabeza y con la misma fuerza con que sus lágrimas cayeron sobre la mesa, así cayó sobre ella su destino. Y desde ese momento supieron ella y la mesa que no podían modificar ni tantito la dirección de esas fuerzas desconocidas que la obligaban, a la una, a compartir con Tita su sino, recibiendo sus amargas lágrimas desde el momento en que nació, y a la otra a asumir esa absurda determinación

When you're told there's no way you can marry the woman you love and your only hope of being near her is to marry her sister, wouldn't you do the same?

el secreto de la existencia humana no consiste sólo en poseer la vida, sino también en tener un motivo para vivir. El hombre que no tenga una idea clara de la finalidad de la vida, preferirá renunciar a ella aunque esté rodeado de montones de pan y se destruirá a si mismo antes que permanecer en este mundo.

La vida sería mucho más agradable si uno pudiera llevarse a donde quiera que fuera, los sabores y olores de la casa materna.

She was passionate about knitting because it allowed her to reach a state of peacefulness, and she loved to embroider because it let her express her creativity. Both activities were liberating. They allowed her to exist outside of time.

Those huge stars have lasted for millions of years by taking care never to absorb any of the fiery rays lovers all over the world send up at them night after night. To avoid that, the star generates so much heat inside itself that it shatters the rays into a thousand pieces. Any look it receives is immediately repulsed, reflected back onto the earth, like a trick done with mirrors. That is the reason the stars shine so brightly at night.

Why did you do that, Pedro? It will look ridiculous, you agreeing to marry Rosaura. What happened to the eternal love you swore to Tita? Aren't you going to keep that vow?' 'Of course I'll keep it. When you're told there's no way you can marry the woman you love, and your only hope of being near her is to marry her sister, wouldn't you do the same?' 'So you intend to marry without love?' 'No, Papa. I am going to marry with a great love for Tita that will never die.