Quotes from Carlos Ruiz Zafon

One of the first expedients of the professional writer that Isabella had learned from me was the art of procrastination. Every veteran in the trade knows that any activity, from sharpening a pencil to cataloging daydreams, takes precedence over sitting down at one's desk and squeezing one's brain.

Everything we need to know is written in the great book of nature," Corelli agreed. "We only need the courage and the mental and spiritual clarity with which to read it.

Mi balenò in mente il pensiero che dietro ogni copertina si celasse un universo da esplorare e che, fuori di lì, la gente sprecasse il tempo ascoltando partite di calcio e sceneggiati alla radio, paga della propria mediocrità.

He knew that a civil war is never just one fight, but a tangle of large or small fights bound to one another.

Bücher sind wie Spiegel: Man sieht in ihnen nur, was man schon in sich hat.

Bea is the only good thing I've ever done in my life,' he said. 'Take care of her for me.' My father went with him to the door and watched him walk away down Calle Santa Ana, with that sadness that softens men who are aware that they are growing old together.

And may you live to see it,' said Fermin, as he signalled to the siren from Calle Escudillers to start displaying her wares. I saw her caress the old man with infinite delicacy, kissing the tears that fell down his cheeks.

Fewer things leave a deeper mark on the reader than the first book that finds its way into his heart.

Dicen que un buen amigo es aquel que sabe recordar y olvidar a un tiempo

Mensen zonder een eigen leven moeten zich altijd in dat van anderen mengen.

Decent people are killed slowly in this country. Quick deaths are reserved for scoundrels. They kill people like me by ignoring us, shutting all the doors in our faces and pretending we don't exist.

Wars have no memory, and nobody has the courage to understand them until there are no voices left to tell what happened, until the moment comes when we no longer recognize them and they return, with another face and another name, to devour what they left behind.

If books spoke, there wouldn't be so many deaf people around the place. What you need to do, Fernandito, is start preventing others from writing your dialogue. Use the head God planted on your neck and write your own script. Life is full of black marketeers eager to stuff their audience's brains with nonsense because that allows them to stay on their high horses and keep the carrot dangling.

Leandro laughed to himself. 'The truth? You and I know such a thing doesn't exist. The truth is an agreement that allows innocent people not to have to cope with reality.

Non devi credere a tutto ciò che vedi. L'immagine della realtà che ci offrono i nostri occhi è solo un'illusione, un effetto ottico. La luce è una gran bugiarda.

cause me physical pain. I was burning inside. Nothing and nobody could ease the pain. I became a gray figure in the corridors. My shadow merged with the walls. Days fell off the calendar like dead leaves.

Yes, I'm writing and anger and resentment, and I'm ashamed of it, because I no longer know, nor do I care, whether my words are fair or not, whether I'm judging the innocent or whether the fury and the pain that burn me to the core or also blinding me. During these past months I've learned to hate, and it terrifies me to think that I'll die with this bitterness in my heart.

Le maschere rivelano il vero volto delle persone

La poesía miente, aunque en bonito.

Furcsa, milyen könnyen mondunk ítéletet egy másik ember fölött, mindaddig, amíg nem hiányzik. Amíg el nem ragadja tÅ'lünk a sors. És azért veszítjük el, mert soha nem is tartozott igazán hozzánk.

Both wondered whether this was due to the cards they 'd been dealt or to the way they had played them.

The city was asleep, and the bookshop felt like a boat adrift in a sea of silence and shadows.

los peores misóginos siempre son mujeres.

Marino, zabra?a? ze sob? wszystkie odpowiedzi.