Quotes from Carlos Ruiz Zafon

The day I charge an unbeliever like you for the word of God will be the day I'm struck dead by lightning, and with good reason.

No sabía entonces que el océano del tiempo tarde o temprano nos devuelve los recuerdos que enterramos en él

A parent never sees his children grow old. To a father's eyes, they always seem like those kids who once looked up at him with veneration, convinced that he had the answers to all the mysteries of the universe.

Sometimes, when the gods aren't looking and destiny loses its way, even good people get a taste of good luck in their lives.

When he spoke those words, it seemed to Julian that the hatter had put off falling in love with his wife until he had already lost her. 'You only love truly once in a lifetime, Julian, even if you aren't always aware of it.

Qué hermosa sería la vida si fuésemos capaces de querer a quien lo merece.

Vrijeme ne postoji, zato ga ne možemo gubiti.

He] was a brilliant man. People tend to become wary of individuals like him because their brilliance reminds them of their own mediocrity. Envy is a blind man who wants to pull out your eyes.

Quizá por eso la adoraba más, por esa estupidez eterna de perseguir a los que nos hacen daño.

La comedia nos enseña que la vida no hay que tomarla en serio y la tragedia nos enseña lo que pasa cuando no hacemos caso de lo que la comedia nos enseña —explicó Cervantes.

They teach us that human beings learn and absorb ideas and concepts through narrative, through stories, not through lessons or theoretical speeches.

Umjetnici žive u budu?nost ili u prošlosti; nikad u sadašnjosti.

Desde aquella noche he sabido que algún día, no importaba cuándo, llegaría nuestro momento. Que en un lugar lejano, las luces de septiembre se encenderían para nosotros y que, esta vez, ya no habría más sombras en nuestro camino.

the day women are allowed to learn to read and write the world will become ungovernable.

Don't make the mistake of confusing the word of God with the missal industry that lives off it.

Siempre creí que íbamos a ser inseparables, pero la vida debe de saber algo que nosotros no sabemos.

In the end, I think that's what matters, that he's truly a good person and that he's real. That he's someone you can hold on to on a cold winter's night and who knows how to make you feel warm inside.

few things leave a deeper mark on a reader than the first book that finds its way into his heart. Those first images, the echo of words we think we have left behind, accompany us throughout our lives and sculpt a palace in our memory to which, sooner or later—no matter how many books we read, how many worlds we discover, or how much we learn or forget—we will return.

Time, Fernandito realized, always flows at the opposite speed to the needs of the person living through it.

He loved her with all his soul, but in his own way, which was the correct way.

Funny people, the Swiss," he said. "While the rest of us hide our sins, they stuff theirs with liqueur, wrap them in silver paper, add a ribbon, and sell them at the price of gold. The prefect has just sent me a huge box of chocolates from Zurich

A good friend once told me that problems are like cockroaches," he said in the joking tone he used when he wanted to say something serious. "If you bring them out into the light, they get scared and leave.

Julián escribió una vez que las casualidades son las cicatrices del destino. No hay casualidades, Daniel. Somos títeres de nuestra inconsciencia.

He believed that life gives us all a few moments of happiness. For some they last hours or days, for a few lucky ones they last for years. The memories from those moments stays with us forever and turns into a country of memory to which we try to go back for the rest of our lives without ever being able to