Quotes from Isabel Allende

manjar blanco, also called dulce de leche, a kind of blancmange

They made you believe you had power; they hammered at your brain over the barracks loudspeakers; they commanded you in the name of your country; and they gave you your share of guilt so you could not wash your hands of it but would be forever bound by ties of blood.

all the relatives, for no one could comprehend my frustration at having spent two years scratching the earth to make my fortune with no other goal than that of one day leading this girl to the altar, and death had stolen her away from me.

La teoría de que la infancia debe ser un período de inocencia plácida no existía entonces, ése fue un invento posterior de los norteamericanos, antes se esperaba que la vida fuera dura y para eso nos templaban los nervios. Los métodos didácticos se fundamentaban en la resistencia: mientras más pruebas inhumanas superaba un crío, mejor preparado estaba para los albures de la edad adulta.

Most people live their lives without any link with the divine and do not note the signs, coincidences, premonitions, and small daily miracles in which the supernatural is manifest.

You've completely forgotten what it takes to raise a child, Mr. Bogart. And this girl is traumatized -- she misses her mother, she's been pulled away from everything she knows, her family, her friends, her school, her community, her language. Can you imagine what that must be like?

The Isabel Allende Foundation

Although the family was afraid that without him Lillian would soon shrivel up with grief, she showed them that death is not an insurmountable obstacle to communication between those who truly love each other.

La vida está llena de ironías, mejor gozar lo que se tiene ahora, sin pensar en un mañana hipotético

Nadie nos da nada, decía Teresa, hay que cogerlo a la fuerza, y si te descuidas te lo quitan.

Until Lillian's death in 1973, Larry received her unconditional love, and according to the psychologist who saved his marriage, he could not expect the same from his wife; in marriage nothing is unconditional.

Trato de no pensar en el mañana; el futuro no existe, dicen los indios del altiplano, sólo contamos con el pasado para extraer experiencia y conocimiento, y el presente, que apenas es un chispazo, puesto que en el mismo instante se convierte en ayer.

non cresce nulla nella penombra dei segreti, l'amore ha bisogno di luce e di spazio per espandersi

En mi caso, sin embargo, el crepúsculo me induce a pecar [...] Me arrepiento de las dietas, de los platos deliciosos rechazados por vanidad, tanto como lamento las ocasiones de hacer el amor que he dejado pasar por ocuparme de tareas pendientes o por virtud puritana.

I especially like your autumn trees, gracefully letting their leaves fall. That is how I would like to shed my own leaves in this autumn of life, easily and elegantly. Why be so attached to what we are bound to lose anyway? I

El primer amor es como la viruela, deja huellas imborrables.

Despite all this, they considered themselves fortunate, because they were together. Other families had been split up; first the men had been taken off to what were known as relocation camps, then the women and children sent to another one. In some cases it was two or three years before they were reunited.

Ya sé lo que está pensando, jefe: el primer sospechoso es el cónyuge, pero no nos sirve, porque David Rosen tiene una buena coartada. —¿Cuál? —Se murió de un paro cardíaco en 1988.

A cada uno le llega el momento de alcanzar su nivel de incompetencia.

Exert some independence; you're not a little girl. You can't let anyone else decide things for you. You have to take care of yourself in this world," she said.

until women shortened their dresses and their hair and stopped wearing corsets, it made no difference if they studied medicine or had the right to vote, because they would not have the strength to do it […]

It makes no sense to suffer in advance a misfortune that may never occur.

Fear? Yes, there was fear, but also uncertainty, emotional dependence, force of habit, and the rule of silence that impeded me from talking about what was happening; I isolated myself.

Puedo anotar mis recuerdos y pensamientos con tinta y papel gracias al clérigo González de Marmolejo, quien se dio tiempo, entre su trabajo de evangelizar salvajes y consolar cristianos, para enseñarme a leer. Entonces era capellán, pero llegó a ser el primer obispo de Chile y también el hombre más rico de este reino, como contaré más adelante.