Quotes from Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Hay cosas que sólo pueden verse entre tinieblas —insinuó mi padre blandiendo una sonrisa enigmática

Frente a un ataúd, todos vemos sólo lo bueno o lo que queremos ver.

Death does that:It makes everyone feel sentimental when in front of a coffin, we all see only what is good or what we want to see.

Ben invented mathematical theories that even he didn't manage to remember and wrote such bizarre tales of adventure that he ended up destroying them a week after they were finished, embarrassed at the thought that he had penned them.

Leute mit kleiner Seele versuchen immer, die anderen herabzusetzen.

He'd lived his forty-seven years with enviable panache and intensity, maintaining that human beings foolishly allowed their existence to drift by as if they were going to live for ever: that was their undoing.

Now, back in the reality that always lies in wait among the shadows of the Ensanche quarter, the enchantment was lifting, and all I had was painful desire and an indescribable restlessness.

que la vida pasa volando, especialmente la parte que vale la pena vivir.

Az idÅ' mindent meggyógyít, csak épp igazságot nem szolgáltat.

I imagined Julián Caraxat my age, holding that image in his hands, perhaps in the shade of the same tree that now sheltered me. I could almost see him smiling confidently, contemplating a future as wide and luminous as that avenue, and for a moment I thought there were no more ghosts there than that of absence and loss that the light that smiled on me was borrowed light, real only as long as I could hold it in my eyes, second by second.

Sentía que por primera vez en su vida, el tiempo transcurría más rápido de lo que deseaba y que ya no podía refugiarse en el sueño de años pasados. La rueda de la fortuna había empezado a girar y, esta vez, él no había tirado los dados

Benjamín Sentís vivía en pretérito pluscuamperfecto.

Mucho ir a misa, pero a nuestro señor Jesucristo aquí no le hace caso ni Dios

Cada um vive a fé à sua maneira, dizia - lhe. Mas não conte a ninguém que eu disse isto, ou mandam-me para as missões a ver se alguma anaconda me engole.

En esta vida lo único que sienta cátedra es el prejuicio.

Life flies by, especially the bit that's worth living.

If retirement requires a certain degree of peace of mind and an easy conscience, Victor Florian did not appear to have much of either. He held an unlit cigar in his mouth and had more hair in each eyebrow that most people have on their head.

Wise men think and speak alike.

Esta vida vale la pena vivirla por tres o cuatro cosas, y lo demás es abono para el campo.

When you're young, you see the world as it should be, and when you're old you start to see it as it really is. You'll be cured eventually.

It's what I always say: if you want things to turn our well, you must put a woman in charge.

She'll live. I've already seen her return from among the dead once before, and those who learn the trick never forget it. I speak from experience. To return from the dead is a bit like riding a bike, or unfastening a girl's bra with a single hand. It's all a question of getting the knack.

La juventud es una novia caprichosa. No sabemos entenderla ni valorarla hasta que se va con otro para no volver jamás…

What I'm searching for is the opposite of an intellectual, in other words, someone intelligent.