Quotes from Isabel Allende

I felt the strength of his desire, his hands at my waist, at the back of my neck, in my hair, his lips on my face and neck; I caught his young man's scent, heard his voice murmuring my name, and I felt blessed. How could I in less than a minute go from the sadness of having been abandoned to the joy of feeling loved?

I go, but I always remember you.

After love, the worst fixation is gold

I was alone, without a single cent, in an unknown country. If I'd learned anything from last year's ill-fated adventures, though, it was not to get overwhelmed by minor inconveniences.

The path to addiction is straight and well paved;

Yo iba llorando. Allí había sido feliz.

ella se iba desprendiendo de mi abrazo, y su espíritu, cada vez más etéreo, ya no me pesaba como antes. A los cinco días ella dio sus primeros pasos por los alrededores, mientras yo dormitaba, pero no estaba lista para seguir su viaje sola y volvió a mi lado

know what helps most in misfortune, Irina? To talk. Nobody can go around in this world all alone. Why do you think I set up the pain clinic? Because shared pain is more bearable. The clinic is useful for the patients but is even more useful to me. We all have demons in the dark recesses of our soul, but if we bring them out into the light, they grow smaller and weaker, they fall silent and eventually leave us in peace." Irina tried to free herself from the tentacle-like

D]as Gedächtnis [ist] schwach und der Lauf eines Lebens kurz und alles [geschieht] so rasch, dass wir den Zusammenhang zwischen den Ereignissen nicht mehr sehen, die Folgen der Taten nicht mehr ermessen können, wir glauben an die Fiktion der Zeit, an Gegenwart, Vergangenheit und Zukunft, aber es kann auch sein, dass alles gleichzeitig geschieht [...]

It made her feel sorry for her husband: she was discovering how vulnerable to flattery a conceited old man could be.

Der] ziellose Blick eines Menschen, der sich ausschließlich von Gemüse ernährt.

We all have demons in the dark recesses of our soul, but if we bring them out into the light, they grow smaller and weaker, they fall silent and eventually leave us in peace.

En cada ocasión debía acomodar su estado de ánimo a las exigencias del momento, pero al terminar la jornada, en el silencio de su habitación, pasaba revista a los acontecimientos y concluía que en medio del diario desafío lo más conveniente era no pensar demasiado para evitar que el miedo o la ira lo paralizaran.

I had a serious library at my disposal, because my Popo believed that culture entered by osmosis and it was better to start early, but my favorite books were fairy tales.

There's a time to live and a time to die. In between there's time to remember. That is all I've done for these past days, silently filling in the missing details to complete this testament—a sentimental legacy, more than a material one.

Esas mujeres del campo me enseñaron que el coraje es contagioso y que la fuerza está en el número; lo que no se logra sola se consigue entre varias, y mientras más sean, mejor.

become a ghost. They've killed several

Fourth of July picnic. And by the way, that picnic, like everything else in this land, is a model of efficiency: you drive at top speed, set up in a previously reserved space, spread out the baskets, bolt your food, kick the ball, and rush home to avoid the traffic. In Chile, a similar project would take three days.

Since we're going to suffer, let's clench our teeth," she said. Pain like that, pain of the soul, does not go away with remedies, therapy, or vacations; you simply endure it deep down, fully, as you should. I would have done well to follow my Nini's example, instead of denying that I was suffering and stifling the howl that was stuck in my chest.

moral crisis is produced when the same affluent Catholics who faithfully go to mass deny their workers a dignified wage.

Clara no volvió a hablar a su marido nunca más en su vida.

It was then that I understood that the days of Colonel Garcia and all those like him are numbered, because they have not been able to destroy the spirit of these women.

Tenía la idea de que al poner nombre a los problemas, éstos se materializan y ya no es posible ignorarlos; en cambio, si se mantienen en el limbo de las palabras no dichas, pueden desaparecer solos, con el transcurso del tiempo.

Al final, lo único que tenemos a plenitud es la memoria que hemos tejido.