Quotes from Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Escribir es un oficio que se aprende, pero que nadie puede enseñar. El día que entienda usted lo que eso significa será quando empiece a aprender a ser escritor.

Se escribe para uno mismo y se reescribe para los demás.

Tudja, az ostobák fecsegnek, a gyávák titkolóznak, a bölcsek pedig végighallgatnak másokat.

Ksi??ki s? lustrem: widzisz w nich tylko to co, ju? masz w sobie.

He] taught me many things: how to create a sentence, how to think about language and all its devices as an orchestra and search of a musical score, how to analyze a text and understand how it is constructed and why... He taught me to read and write again, but this time I knew what I was doing, why, and what for. And above all how. He never tired of telling me that in literature there is only one real theme: not what is narrated, but how it is narrated. The rest, he said, was decoration.

L'esperienza le aveva insegnato che il futuro le avrebbe riservato più tempo di quanto fosse tollerabile per lamentarsi degli errori commessi in passato.

Az ember néha hamarabb kiönti a szívét egy idegennek, mint azoknak, akiket ismer. Miért van ez így? - Talán azért, mert az idegen olyannak lát bennünket, mint amilyenek vagyunk, s nem olyannak, amilyennek látni szeretne.

Esta ciudad es bruja, se le mete a uno en la piel y le roba el alma sin que uno se dé ni cuenta

She suspected that the old man hadn't shared that sorrow with anyone, but fate had chosen to send him a stranger resemble the person he had most loved, so that now, when it was too late, when he was no longer of any use to anyone, you could find some comfort by trying to save her and give her an affection that didn't belong to her.

Az ember, mint fÅ'-fÅ'emlÅ's, társas lény. Viselkedésének lényegi és uralkodó etikai alapelvei a barátság, a családi összefogás, a komaság és a pletyka. Puszta biológia az egész.

As life advances and we have to give up the hopes, dreams, and desires of our youth, we acquire a growing sense of being a victim of the world and of other people. There is always someone else to blame for our misfortunes or failures, someone we wish to exclude.

Las certezas reconfortan, pero solo se aprende dudando.

Malo stvari ?itatelja može obilježiti onako kako to ?ini prva knjiga koja prona?e put do njegova srca. Te prve slike, odjek rije?i za koje mislimo da su ostale za nama, prate nas cijeloga života i u našem sje?anju klešu pala?u kojoj ?emo se, ranije ili kasnije - koliko god knjiga pro?itali, koliko god svjetova otkrili, koliko god nau?ili ili zaboravili - jednom vratiti.

A könyvekben, amelyek közt nevelkedtem, láthatatlan, titkos barátokra leltem; s bár lapjaik rég elporladtak már, az illatukat azóta is Å'rzi kezem.

Books are mirrors, you see in them what you already have inside you.

I can't die yet, doctor. Not yet. I have things to do. Afterwards I'll have a whole lifetime in which to die.

Mein Freund', sagte er schließlich. 'Verlieren Sie die Hoffnung nicht. Wenn ich in dieser grauenhaften Welt etwas gelernt habe, dann, dass das Schicksal immer gleich um die Ecke wartet. Als wäre es ein Taschendieb, eine Hure oder ein Losverkäufer, seine drei abgegriffensten Verkörperungen. Und sollten Sie sich eines Tages entschließen, es zu suchen - denn Hausbesuche macht das Schicksal nicht -, dann werden Sie sehen, dass es Ihnen eine zweite Chance gibt.

Haïr pour de bon est un talent qui ne s'acquiert qu'avec l'âge.

Everything in life is nonsense. It's just a question of perspective.

That sorry specimen is both pedantic and corrupt. A fascist buttock polisher," Fermín declared

Isn't that why people write - to gain a better understanding of themselves and of the world?

Lo difícil no es ganar dinero sin más -se lamentaba-. Lo difícil es ganarlo haciendo algo a lo que valga la pena dedicarle la vida.

Gewissenheiten flößen Mut ein, aber lernen tut man nur mit dem Zweifel.

Uno se da cuenta del vacío en el que ha dejado pasar el tiempo hasta que vive de verdad. A veces la vida, no los días quemados, es solo un instante, un día, una semana o un mes.