Quotes from Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Sometimes one forgets that not everyone in this world is a bastard.

He used to say that we exist as long as somebody remembers us.

Moronic, which isn't quite the same thing. Evil presupposes a moral decison, intention, and some forethought. A moron or a lout, however, doesn't stop to think or reason. He acts on instinct, like a stable animal, convinced that he's doing good, that he's always right, and sanctimoniously proud to go around f***g up anyone he perceives to be different form himself. What the world needs is more thoroughly evil people and fewer borderline pigheads

Às vezes, as coisas mais reais só acontecem na imaginação. A gente só lembra do que nunca aconteceu.

The air seemed poisoned with fear and hatred. People eyed on another suspiciously, and the streets smelled of a silence that knotted your stomach.

Those times, against all expectations, were turning out to be good times. Then he felt afraid, because he knew they couldn't last long and those stolen drops of happiness and peace would evaporate.

Those were the words she wanted to hear and she finally surrendered to the temptation of believing them.

Men are like chestnuts they sell in the street: they're all hot and they all smell good when you buy them, but when you take them out of the paper cone you realise that most of them are rotten inside.

Now he knew that any memories he might cherish during the last years of his life would be only fictions from a biography he'd never lived.

Cada libro, cada tomo que ves, tiene alma. El alma de quien lo escribió, y el alma de quienes lo leyeron y vivieron y soñaron con él. Cada vez que un libro cambia de manos, cada vez que alguien desliza la mirada por sus páginas, su espíritu crece y se hace fuerte.

The rain was still crashing down, angrily machine-gunning the large windows; it poured through the gutters up in the tower and funneled along the flat roof, sounding like footsteps on the ceiling.

Baje a la orilla y me senté en la arena, donde años atrás había esparcido las cenizas de Marina. La misma luz de aquel día encendió el cielo y sentí su presencia, intensa. Comprendí que ya no podía ni quería huir más. Había vuelto a casa.

Pero usted es el hombre y le toca llevar la iniciativa. Aquello empezaba a adquirir un cariz funesto. —¿ La iniciativa? ¿Yo? —¿ Qué quiere? Algún precio tenía que tener el poder mear de pie.

1My father says a hunch is your brain's way of taking a short cut to the truth,' replied Max. 'He's a wise man, your father. What else does he say?' 'That the more you try to hide from the truth, the quicker it finds you.

Justice is an affectation of perspective, not a universal value.

Our world will not die as a result of the bomb, as the papers say, it will die of laughter, of banality, of making a joke of everything, and a lousy joke at that.

Before we knew it, we were walking along the breakwater until the whole city, shining with silence, speak out at our feet like the greatest mirage in the universe, emerging from the pool of the harbor waters. We sat on the edge of the jetty to gaze at the sight. This city is a sorceress, you know, Daniel? It gets under your skin and steals your soul without you knowing it.

The cinema began as an invention for entertaining the illiterate masses. Fifty years on, it's much the same.

Man's meanness is a fuse in search of a flame.

You're wrong about me, because we can be friends if you let me try, now that you know how worthless I am. And you're wrong about Barcelona, too, because you may think you've seen everything, but I can guarantee that's not true. If you'll allow me, I can prove it to you.

Uno acaba convirtiéndose en aquello que ve en los ojos de quienes desea.

If there is a god, or hundreds of them, I hope they will forgive me for the harm I may have inflicted on you by telling you exactly what happened.

Before I know it, I'll be thirty and I'll realise that every day I look less like the person I wanted to be when I was fifteen.

No valía la pena perder el tiempo en intentar cambiar el mundo; bastaba con evitar que el mundo lo cambiase a uno.