Quotes from Carlos Ruiz Zafon

bastan unos cuantos pasos para tropezarse con alguien o con algo que le recuerda que siempre hay quien ha recibido peores cartas que uno mismo en la partida de la vida.

In those days I learned that nothing is more frightening than a hero who has lived to tell his story, to tell what all who fell at his side will never be able to tell.

Jedes einzelne Buch hat eine Seele. Die Seele dessen, der es geschrieben hat und die Seele derer, die es gelesen und erlebt und von ihm geträumt haben.

I'm sorry but those señoras are asking you to choose words more carefully. -Well, wouldn't the go f....- responded Fumero loudly.

todas las ideologías y los credos, sin distinción, son inflamaciones inducidas del pensamiento. Simulacros.

at my age either you begin to see things for what they are or you're pretty much done for. Only three or four things are worth living for; the rest is shit.

Il matrimonio e la famiglia sono un guscio vuoto e spetta a noi riempirlo di significato.

Las guerras no tienen memoria y nadie se atreve a comprenderlas hasta que ya no quedan voces para contar lo que pasó, hasta que llega el momento en que no se las reconoce y regresan, con otra cara y otro nombre, a devorar lo que dejaron atrás»

Victor Hugo's pen

En el colegio dicen que soy un poco raro [...] -Pues es una suerte. Empiece a preocuparse el día que le digan que es usted normal.

tell me what you boast of and I'll tell you what you lack.

Despi-a á luz de uma vela.Tirei-lhe os sapatos,impregnados de água empoçada,o vestido ensopado e as meias rasgadas.Enxuguei-lhe o corpo e o cabelo com uma toalha lavada.Ainda tremia de frio quando a deitei na cama e me estendi ao seu lado,abraçando-a para a aquecer.Ficámos assim durante muito tempo,em silêncio,a ouvir a chuva.Lentamente senti que o corpo amornava sob as minhas mãos e a respiração começava a tornar-se profunda.

Making money isn't hard in itself,' he complained. 'What's hard is to earn it doing something worth devoting your life to.

When a library disappears, or a bookshop closes down, when a book is consigned to oblivion, those of us who know this place, its guardians, make sure that it gets here.

And thank goodness that's the way things are, because the day we lose the spark that makes us want to know things, and young people are content with the nonsense dressed in tinsel sold to them by the current popes of bullshittery--be it a miniature electrical appliance or battery-run chamber pot--and become incapable of understanding anything that lies beyond their backsides, we'll return to the age of the slug.

Sempre invejei essa capacidade que algumas pessoas têm de esquecer, pessoas para as quais o passado é uma mudança de estação ou uns sapatos velhos que basta condenar ao fundo de um armário para que fiquem incapazes de refazer os passos perdidos.

had never known the pleasure of reading, of exploring the recesses of the soul, of letting myself be carried away by imagination, beauty, and the mystery of fiction and language.

Es curioso cómo juzgamos a los demás y no nos damos cuenta de lo miserable de nuestro desdén hasta que nos faltan, hasta que nos los quitan.

Cuéntale al mundo nuestras historias y jamás olvides que existimos mientras alguien nos recuerda.

El amor es como el embutido: hay lomo embuchado y hay mortadela. Todo tiene su lugar y función. Carax

Usted no cree que nadie la pueda querer porque no se quiere a sí misma y piensa que nunca nadie la ha querido. Y que no se lo perdona al mundo.

Si no sabes expresarte, Sheere, no sabes pensar. Y si no sabes pensar, estás perdida.

In this manner, secretly, the Fortuny family let the years go by, silencing their hearts and their souls to the point where, from so much keeping quiet, they forgot the words with which to express their real feelings and became strangers living under the same roof, like so many other families in the vast city.

The cowl maketh the monk