Quotes from Isabel Allende

Neantul este plin de toate lucrurile universului. E neant si, in acelasi timp, e totul. Lumina sacramentala si intuneric nepatruns. Sunt neantul, sunt tot ce este, sunt in fiecare frunza, in fiecare picatura de roua, in fiecare graunte de cenusa purtat de ape, sunt Paula si sunt eu insami, nu sunt nimic si sunt totul, in viata asta si in celelalte, sunt nemuritoare.

Qué año sería eso? Por allí por la misma época en que murió Pedro, me parece. El joven necesitaba título de rey para realizar el enlace y como su padre no pensaba dejarle el trono todavía, decidieron que Chile sería un reino y Felipe su soberano, lo que no mejoró nuestra suerte, pero nos dio categoría.

and promised them that if the conservative candidate won the election they would all receive a bonus, but that if he lost they would lose their jobs. In addition, they rigged the ballot boxes and bribed the police.

En privado los chilenos tenemos la risa pronta y el chiste fácil, pero en público somos un pueblo de tontos graves paralizados por el temor de hacer el ridículo

But that's how nostalgia is: a slow dance in a large circle. Memories don't organize themselves chronologically, they're like smoke, changing, ephemeral, and if they're not written down they fade into oblivion.

Váyase al carajo —balbuceó Pedro Tercero.

Courage is a virtue appreciated in a male but considered a defect in our gender. Bold women are a threat to a world that is badly out of balance, in favor of men. That is why they work so hard to mistreat us & destroy us. But remember that bold women are like cockroaches: step on one & others come running from the corners.

Al necesitado no se le pregunta quién es ni de dónde viene, Richard. Todos somos iguales en la desgracia», le decía

defiendas, ignóralos. Era

Hay encrucijadas en el destino que no podemos reconocer en el momento en que se presentan, pero si se vive tan largo como he vivido yo se pueden ver con nitidez. Allí donde se cruzan o bifurcan los caminos debemos decidir la dirección que vamos a

In her mother's last days, Lucia understood that death was not an end, was not the absence of life, but a powerful oceanic wave of clear, luminous water that was carrying her off to another dimension.

AND SINCE we're talking about nostalgia, I beg you to have a little patience with what follows because I can't separate the subject of Chile from my own life. My past is composed of passions, surprises, successes, and losses: it isn't easy to relate in two or three sentences.

He was proud of his calloused hands with cracked nails and dry red skin. "Working hands, honest hands," he'd say.

Life was beautiful, and America was truly "the land of the free and the home of the brave," a land where someone like Gregory could become President; all you had to do was stay pure of heart, love God and your mother, be forever faithful to one girl, respect the law, defend the weak, and scorn money—because heroes never expected to be compensated.

Quería protegerla y cuidarla, aunque sabía que ella era más fuertes que él a la hora de la desgracia.

Le bastaron pocas horas para aprender a respetar a esos indígenas; nada tenían de salvajes, al contrario, eran más civilizados que muchos pueblos de Europa.

Miss Rose has decided that Eliza would have learning, dowry, and fame as a beauty even if she was not one, because it was her view that beauty is a question of style. Any woman who conducts herself with the queenly assurance of a belle, she maintained, will convince everyone that she is beautiful.

En la actitud de los amantes reconoció el abandono propio de quienes se conocen de muy largo tiempo. Aquello no tenía el aspecto de una aventura erótica de verano, como había supuesto, sino más bien de un matrimonio de la carne y el espíritu.

He had a principle: if you lend money and never see the person again, that's money well spent. Morgana aroused mixed feelings of fascination

Tendemos a postergarnos por los hijos, los compañeros, los padres y por casi todos los demás. Nos sometemos y sacrificamos por amor, eso nos parece el colmo de la nobleza.

Etelvina had made a meringue pie, which our guest accepted a second piece of without concern for the calories; that detail ended up convincing me that she was the ideal girl for my grandson: I like people who can get happily fat.

Qué fue nuevo para él y para mí? No lo sé, pero me gusta imaginar que estábamos destinados a encontrarnos, reconocernos y amarnos.

As well as walking erect and disguising his tiredness, he also tried to avoid other symptoms of old age: meanness, mistrust, ill temper, resentment, and bad habits such as no longer shaving every day, repeating the same stories over and over, talking about himself, his ailments, or money. By

He had a principle: if you lend money and never see the person again, that's money well spent.