Quotes from Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Only three or four things are worth living for; the rest is shit.

There are two things in life you cannot choose. The first is your enemies; the second your family. Sometimes the difference between them is hard to see, but in the end time will show you that the cards you have been dealt could always have been worse.

Nothing is fair. The most one can hope is for things to be logical. Justice is a rare illness in a world that is otherwise a picture of health.

The female heart is a labyrinth of subtleties, too challenging for the uncouth mind of the male racketeer. If you really want to possess a woman, you must think like her, and the first thing to do is to win over her soul. The rest, that sweet, soft wrapping that steals away your senses and your virtue, is a bonus.

May I offer you something? A small glass of cyanide?

He was a very private person, and sometimes it seemed to me that he was no longer interested in the world or in other people... I got the feeling that Julián was living in the past, locked in his memories. Julián lived within himself, for his books and inside them - a comfortable prison of his own design. You say this as if you envied him. There are worse prisons than words.

You women listen more to your heart and less to all the nonsense. That's why you live longer.

Destiny doesn't do home visits... you have to go for it yourself.

The most despicable humans are the ones who always feel virtuous and look down on the rest of the world.

One mustn't dream of one's future; one must earn it.

Everything is a tale, Martin. What we believe, what we know, what we remember, even what we dream. Everything is a story, a narrative, a sequence of events with characters communicating an emotional content. We only accept as true what can be narrated.

I knew then that I would devote every minute we had left together to making her happy, to repairing the pain I had caused her and returning to her what I never known how to give her. These pages will be our memory until she drows her last breath in my arms and I take her forever and escape at last to a place where neither heaven nor hell will ever be able to find us.

We think we understand a song's lyrics but what makes us believe in them, or not, is the music

Who are the lunatics? The ones who see horror in the heart of their fellow humans and search for peace at any price? Or the ones who pretend they don't see what's going on around them? The world belongs either to lunatics or hypocrites. There are no other races on this earth. You must choose which one to belong to.

You young people never say anything. And us old folks don't know how to stop talking.

Aquella noche Mijail me contó que él creía que la vida nos concede a cada uno de nosotros unos escasos momentos de pura felicidad. A veces son sólo dias o semanas. A veces, años. Todo depende de nuestra fortuna. El recuerdo de esos momentos nos acompaña para siempre y se transforma en un país de la memoria al que tratamos de regresar durante el resto de nuestra vida sin consegurilo.

Every work of art is aggressive, Isabella. And every artist's life is a small war or a large one, beginning with oneself and one's limitations. To achieve anything you must first have ambition and then talent, knowledge, and finally the opportunity.

Coincidences are the scars of fate.

A good liar knows that the most efficient lie is always a truth that has had a key piece removed from it.

Keep your dreams, you will never know when you need them

All true stories begin and end in a cemetery.

It is impossible to survive in a prolonged state of reality.

We humans are willing to believe anything rather than the truth.

I've always thought that anyone who needs to join a herd so badly must be a bit of a sheep himself.