Quotes from Carlos Ruiz Zafon

One knows one is alive because it hurts, because suddenly everything matters, and because when that brief moment is over, the rest of one's existence becomes a memory to which one tries in vain to return while there is some breath left in one's body.

Bea says that the art of reading is slowly dying, that it's an intimate ritual, that a book is a mirror that offers us only what we already carry inside us, that when we read, we do it with all our heart and mind, and great readers are becoming more scarce by the day.

gracias a Alicia, había aprendido al menos dos cosas ùltiles que le servirían para siempre, si es que vivía para contarlo. La primera era mentir. La segunda, y esta aún la sentía en carne viva, era que los juramentos eran un poco como los corazones: roto el primero, los demàs resultaban pan comido.

The body that ended up in the morgue was only a part of him. His soul is in his stories. I once asked him who inspired him to create his characters, and his answer was no one. That all his characters were himself.

Accursed be those whose dreams are made of paper and ink, for theirs will be the purgatory of vanity and disappointment.

Sí. Como el suyo. Un hombre con cabeza, corazón y alma. Un hombre que sea capaz de escuchar, guiar y respetar a una criatura, y de no ahogar en ella sus propios defectos. Alguien a quien un hijo no sólo quiera por ser su padre, sino que lo admire por la persona que es. Alguien a quien quiera parecerse.

Invadiu-me o desejo quase doloroso de beijar aquela mulher,uma ânsia como nunca tinha experimentado...

Al que no aprende idiomas el cerebro se le convierte en purée de coliflor.

To achieve anything you must first have ambition and then talent, knowledge, and finally the opportunity

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.

Routine is the housekeeper of inspiration.

We quarreled, he said. Things were said that shouldn't have been said on both sides. But that girl has such a temper, you wouldn't believe it... She threatened to leave us and said she'd never come back.

What I don't understand is why, instead of talking so much about this story, you don't just get on and write it.

pocas cosas marcan tanto a un lector como el primer libro que realmente se abre camino hasta su corazón. Aquellas primeras imágenes, el eco de esas palabras que creemos haber dejado atrás, nos acompañan toda la vida y esculpen un palacio en nuestra memoria al que, tarde o temprano - no importa cuántos libros leamos, cuántos mundos descubramos, cuánto aprendamos u olvidemos -, vamos a regresar.

She might have a place of honour in the symbolism, but not in the hierarchy. Religion and war are male pursuits.

Una basílica hecha de libros oculta en un palacio que no había existido nunca, un lugar al que sólo podría volver en sueños.

Despite myself I was beginning to get used to Isabella's company, to her jibes and to the light she had brought into that house. If things continued this way, my worst fears were going to come true and we'd end up being friends.

These new Francoists are as tight as two coats of paint.

You'll become who you believe you are.

Simios es lo que llegan a las aulas. Darwin era un soñador, se lo aseguro. Ni evolución ni niño muerto. Por cada uno que razona, tengo que lidiar con nueve orangutanes. Nos limitamos a asentir

We quarreled, he said. Things were said that shouldn't have been said on both sides...

One has to make one's own mistakes, not other people's.

Uma história é, em definitivo uma conversa entre quem narra e quem escuta, e um narrador só pode contar até onde vai a sua perícia, e um leitor, só pode ler até onde está escrito em sua alma.

Äiti kertoi hänelle vanhasta loitsusta, se oli kalastajien legenda, jonka hän oli kuullut pikkutyttönä rannalla. Kun joku kadotti suuntansa elämässä ja tunsi kuoleman vaanivan sieluaan, legenda kertoi, että jos hän löysi puhtaan sielun joka uhrautuisi hänen puolestaan, hän voisi naamioida mustan sydämensä sillä eikä kuolema huomaisi häntä vaan kulkisi ohi.