Quotes from Laura Esquivel

Tita knew through her own flesh how fire transforms the elements, how a lump of corn flour is changed into a tortilla, how a soul that hasn't been warmed by the fire of love is lifeless, like a useless ball of corn flour.

You must take care to light the matches one at a time. If a powerful emotion should ignite them all at once, they would produce a splendor so dazzling that it would illuminate far beyond what we can normally see; and then a brilliant tunnel would appear before our eyes, revealing the path we forgot the moment we were born, and summoning us to regain the divine origins we had lost. The soul ever longs to return to the place from which it came, leaving the body lifeless.

Pero en ciertos casos es más digno dejarse llevar de un impulso ciego, provocado por un gran amor, que oponerse a él.

The most elementary of good manners . . . at a social gathering one does not bring up the subject of personalities, sad topics or unfortunate facts, religion, or politics.

Keeping secrets will always lead to unhappiness and communication is the key to love.

No one who loves life can ignore literature, and no one who loves literature can ignore life.

The simple truth is that the truth does not exist; it all depends on a person's point of view.

Lástima que en aquella época no se hubieran descubierto los hoyos negros en el espacio, porque entonces le hubiera sido muy fácil comprender que sentía un hoyo negro en medio del pecho, por donde se le colaba un frío infinito.

Inclusive se convertían en motivo de diversión, a tal grado que durante su niñez Tita no diferenciaba bien las lágrimas de la risa de las del llanto. Para ella reír era una manera de llorar.

los olores tienen la característica de reproducir tiempos pasados junto con sonidos y olores nunca igualados en el presente.

It doesn't matter to me what you did, there are some things in life that shouldn't be given so much importance, if they don't change what is essential. What you've told me hasn't changed the way I think; I'll say again, I would be delegated to be your companion for the rest of your life-but you must think over very carefully whether I am the man for you or not.

there's only a space between now and here to get yourself nowhere.

Ah, y le sugiero que para la próxima vez que se enamore, ¡no sea tan cobarde!

To know how to produce a work of art is to know how to discard the extraneous.

If you take a frozen box and stick it in the microwave, you become connected to the factory. We've forgotten who we are.

I grew up in a modern home, but my grandmother lived across the street in an old house that was built when churches were illegal in Mexico. She had a chapel in the home, right between the kitchen and dining room.

What I find sad is that the New Age movement is primarily a commercial undertaking. But it is answering to a human need.

We're in a period of revolutionary change. I'm optimistic. One's self changes, and then the world changes. It's going to begin internally, not externally.

I was pretty much a hippie. I was a vegetarian, gypsy-like. I liked to meditate, and it's curious because I was very much attracted to the possibility of change.

I like vibrant colors.

Take care to chop the onion fine.