Quotes from Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Some disappointments honor those who inspire them.

occurred to me that their very presence was testimony to the moral emptiness of the universe and the mechanical brutality with which it destroys the parts it no longer needs.

A story is a letter that the author writes to himself, to tell him things that he would be unable to discover otherwise.

Vestia marfim e trazia o mundo no olhar.Mal me lembro das palavras do padre,nem dos rostos perdidos de esperança dos convidados que enchiam a igreja naquela manhã de Março.Permanece apenas em mim o roçagar dos seus lábios e,ao entreabrir os olhos,o juramento secreto que trazia na pele e que recordaria todos os dias da minha vida.

The minister's gratitude had earned me a first-class ticket and the velvet sanctuary of a private compartment. Even in those dark days the last thing lost among professionals was courtesy.

En este perro mundo —pensó—, cuando te haces viejo y te duele hasta el sentido común, un mendrugo de amabilidad, o de lástima, es un manjar de dioses.»

dicen los entendidos que el futuro de la literatura depende de las mujeres

Mit der Zeit verschwinden sogar die schlechten Erinnerungen hinter einer weißen Maske.

fille d'un riche fabricant de machines textiles qui avait fait fortune en partant de rien, au prix d'efforts et de sacrifices immenses consentis surtout par les autres.

If you ever have a daughter—a blessing I wouldn't wish on anyone, because it's Murphy's Law that sooner or later she will break your heart—anyhow, as I was saying, if you ever have a daughter, you'll begin, without realizing it, to divide men into two camps: those you suspect are sleeping with her and those you don't. Whoever says that's not true is lying through his teeth.

A Edmond de Luna, el hacedor de laberintos y único superviviente de la travesía, lo encontraron atado al timón y quemado por el sol.

Er kam daher, den Kopf in den Wolken, ein Lächeln um die Lippen und mit der heiteren Miene derer, die es sich leisten können, nicht zu wissen, wie die Welt funktioniert.

to keep your sanity, you must have a place in the world where you can lose yourself if necessary. That place, that last refuge, is a small annex of the soul, and when the world reverts to its absurd comedy, you can always run there, lock yourself in and throw away the key.

Yo creo que nada sucede por casualidad, ¿sabes? Que, en el fondo, las cosas tienen su plan secreto, aunque nosotros no lo entendamos...todo forma parte de algo que no podemos entender, pero que nos posee.

Clara, who always seemed to know what I was thinking, suggested that I read from The Shadow of the Wind whenever I liked and that, while we were at it, I might as well start at the beginning.

Most of us mortals never get to know our real destiny; we're just trampled by it. By the time we raise our heads and see it moving off down the road, it's already too late, and we have to walk the rest of the way along the straight and narrow ditch that dreamers call maturity.

What makes the athlete, or the artist, is the work, the vocation, and the technique. The intelligence you are born with is just ammunition. To achieve something with it you need to transform your mind into a high-precision weapon.

People get so used to lying and repeating other people's lies, either because they're afraid or out of self-interest, resentment, or sheer stupidity, that they end up lying even when they think they're telling the truth. It's the failing of our times.

Quizá su momento aún no había pasado. Quizá le quedaba todavía una razón para seguir viviendo.

The neighbors have doped her with shots of brandy, and when I saw her, she had collapsed onto the sofa and was snoring like a boar and letting off farts that pierced bullet holes through the upholstery.

Aquella noche, con los ojos velados de lágrimas, se despidió de los años que había pasado en aquel cuarto oscuro y frío, perdido en sueños que ahora sabía que nunca llegarían a cumplirse.

Este culo serrano tuyo es el apocalipsis según Botticelli.

Con el tiempo, la soledad se te mete dentro y no se va.

Te vas en sombras, pensé. Como viviste.