Quotes from James Salter

England? The worst of all. You know, I do some business there, I have friends in England. Their flats are broken into constantly. The police come, they look around, they dust for fingerprints. Well, we know who it is, they say. Wonderful, who? The same ones who did it last time, they say.

But of course, in one sense, Dean never died - his existence is superior to such accidents. One must have heroes, which is to say, one must create them. And they become real through our envy, our devotion. It is we who give them their majesty, their power, which ourselves could never possess. And in turn, they give some back. But they are mortal, these heroes, just as we are. They do not last forever. They fade. They vanish. They are surpassed, forgotten - one hears of them no more.

Do you know what Krishnamurti says? Consciously or unconsciously, we are all completely selfish, and as long as we get what we want, we believe everything is all right.

To the world she knew, to the few friends who had by then drifted away, to everyone except himself and Dorothy, it was no longer important that she live. What had been her life, the people she knew and the deep pool of memory and knowing, had vanished or dried up and fallen apart.

Vamos allá, arriesguemos nuestras vidas. Porque si tienen algún valor, es precisamente que no tienen ninguno.

Los poetas, los escritores, los sabios y las voces de su tiempo, forman un coro, el himno que comparten es el mismo: los grandes y pequeños se unen, lo hermoso vive, lo demás muere, y todo es absurdo excepto el honor, el amor y lo poco que el corazón conoce.

La luz, la divinidad, la pose absoluta, donde por la mañana, en camas revueltas, en susurros, se te presenta la vida.

She could not eat, like a dog that has been sold.

With the milk goes the cow," he said. "With the cow goes the milk.

As I think of it, there's an ache in my chest. I cannot control these dreams in which she seems to lie in my future like a whole season of extravagant meals if only I knew how to arrange it.

He knew all the constellations. He had seen them rise in darkness over heartbreaking coasts.

The more clearly one sees this world, the more one is obliged to pretend it does not exist.

she was motionless, like an old woman who has lived too long.

She's not young, but rather in the midst of that last and most confident beauty, like the mother of a schoolmate. You see her emerging from a car, the flash of an elegant calf, and you are tumbled into unbearable love.

He had not abandoned failure; it was his address, his street, his one comfort.

Tus besos me destierran

They were seated to one side, but to be with her was to be seen by everyone.

Yes, he thought, I am ready, I have always been ready, I am ready at least.

Nunca he llegado a tener afinidad ni a sentirme realmente cómodo con personas que no leen o que nunca han leído. Para mí es un requisito esencial. De lo contrario echo en falta algo, amplitud de miras, noción de la historia, una sintonía compartida. Los libros son contraseñas.

Yes, he thought, I am ready, I have always been ready, I am ready at last.

Beneath their brilliance women have a power as stars have gravity.

stripped of all but a single, last possession, a ring, a photograph, or letter that represented everything dearest and forever left behind that they somehow hoped, it being so small, they would be able to take with them. He had such a letter, from Enid. The days I spent with you were the greatest days of my life Ã¢â'¬Â¦

A friend is someone you can really talk to—cry with, if necessary. I've made very few. One.

She preferred to lie up by the dunes with the waves bursting, to listen while they crashed like the final chords of a symphony except they went on and on. There was nothing as fine as that.