Quotes from Isabel Allende

For the first time in her life, she felt her own soul as an incandescent light within her, sustaining her, an eternal light that could not be affected by the urgencies of existence

El dinero lo aburría, porque siempre lo había tenido.

Lo más temible de la muerte era la idea de la eternidad. Muerto para siempre, qué horror

La tristeza y el aburrimiento le resultaban más soportables que el esfuerzo de una existencia normal.

Nadie se fija en nadie, Richard. Y nosotros parecemos una pareja madura de vacaciones. —¿En la nieve? ¿En dos vehículos? ¿Con una niña llorona y un perro vestido de Sherlock Holmes? Y tú con esos pelos colorinches. Por supuesto que llamamos la atención, mujer.

Habrían de pasar cuarenta años para aceptar mi condición y comprender que, con el doble de esfuerzo y la mitad de reconocimiento, había logrado lo mismo que a veces consiguen algunos hombres. Hoy

Mezclábamos la sangre fresca con leche y un poco de orina y se la dábamos a beber a los enfermos; así se repusieron y al cabo de dos semanas estaban en condiciones de emprender el camino.

In 1920 a political leader was elected who for the first time preached social justice: Arturo Alessandri Palma, nicknamed The Lion. He came from a middle-class family of second-generation Italian immigrants.

lo peor es tenerle miedo al miedo...

even though the majority of Chileans, especially the entire middle class, supported him. Parliament (again the parliament!) made it difficult for him to govern; it forced him to resign his position and exiled him to Europe.

popular outcry forced the return of The Lion, who ended his term by seeing a new constitution put into effect.

Eso de poner la otra mejilla siempre me ha parecido una bobada, sólo sirve para recibir una segunda bofetada

navegación y los cuatro días de ceremonias, en los que los devotos acuden en masa a pagar sus mandas y promesas.

People come and go, and even the closest members of the family eventually disperse. It's useless to cling to anybody or anything because everything in the universe tends toward separation, chaos, and entropy, not cohesion. I have chosen a simpler life, with fewer material things and more leisure, fewer worries and more fun, fewer social commitments and more true friendship, less fuss and more silence.

in 1938 the left came to power under President Pedro Aguirre Cerda, a member of the Frente Popular, or Popular Front, in which communist and radical parties participated. After Pedro Aguirre Cerda, the deposed Ibáñez joined forces with the left, and three successive radical presidents followed

For twenty years we had center-left governments, until 1958, when the right triumphed with Jorge Alessandri, son of The Lion and completely different from his father. The Lion was a populist with advanced ideas for his time; his son was a conservative, and projected an old-maidish image.

No sólo perdía a Rosa, su madre, los amigos, el trabajo y su pasado. Perdía su patria. —Mi país..., mi país... —sollozó.

Aqui la existencia no es facil y para muchos la muerte es una invitacion al descanso.

Cada minuto es precioso y no podemos perderlo en malentendidos, impaciencia, celos, mezquindades y tantas otras tonterías que ensucian las relaciones.

A mí me falla el cristianismo a cada rato, Nuria. Será que soy vasco y bruto, como mi padre, que en paz descanse; digo yo que si hubiera nacido en Luxemburgo tal vez no estaría tan indignado.

My granddaughter once asked me how I managed to live alone for so long far removed from civilization. The truth is I don't know. But it must have been easier for me than for most people, because I've never been particularly sociable; I have few friends and I don't enjoy parties or festivities. I'm much happier when I'm alone. At

Free, public, compulsory education, public health for all, and one of the most advanced social security systems on the continent favored the strengthening of a vast educated and politicized middle class, as well as a proletariat with class awareness. Unions were formed, along with centers for workers, employees, and students. Women gained the vote, and electoral processes were perfected. (An election in Chile is as civilized as tea time in London's Savoy Hotel.

Ese era el peligro del terrorismo: la astucia de un solo individuo camuflado en la multitud contra la fuerza titánica de la nación más poderosa del mundo.

ya que todo pariente o amigo de la familia con edad suficiente para llevar el titulo con cierta dignidad, pasa automáticamente a llamarse tío o tía