Quotes from Isabel Allende

No hay libertad sin independencia económica.

El patriarcado es pétreo. El feminismo, como el océano, es fluido, poderoso, profundo y tiene la complejidad infinita de la vida, se mueve en olas, corrientes, mareas y a veces en tormentas furiosas. Como el océano, el feminismo no se calla.

Me gustan las telas, los colores, el maquillaje y la rutina de arreglarme cada mañana, aunque paso la mayor parte del tiempo encerrada en el ático escribiendo. «Nadie me ve, pero yo me veo a mí misma», como decía mi madre filosóficamente, sin referirse

por cada virtud hay un pecado, por cada alegría una desdicha, por cada mal un bien y así, en el eterno girar de la rueda de la vida todo se compensa a través de los siglos.

I haven't forgotten. But if I fail you, you can rely on Cathy.

For Isaac's protection he had a blue Turkish evil eye and a painted tin hand of Fatima hanging from the bedpost; a candle was always lit on his chest of drawers, next to Hebrew and Christian Bibles and a jar of holy water that one of the domestic staff had brought from the Shrine of Saint Jude.

El individualismo se consideraba una forma de demencia

También te he aguardado siempre», parece que me dijo. O tal vez no lo dijo. Supongo que en el transcurso de la vida embellecemos algunos recuerdos y procuramos olvidar otros.

El sentimiento de soledad arrastrado desde la infancia se hizo aún más agudo, pero me consolaba la vaga esperanza de estar marcada por un destino especial que se me revelaría algún día.

We get along really well, it seems to me, although he still grunts at me every once in a while. I don't pay any attention. I remember that when I met him, he struck me as surly, but in these months of living together I've discovered he's one of those guys who's ashamed of his own kind heart. He makes no effort to be nice and gets frightened when someone grows fond of him; that's why he's a little scared of me.

Suggestion works miracles.

Pst! ¡Padre Restrepo! Si el cuento del infierno fuera pura mentira, nos chingamos todos...

Has sido soldado por muchos años, Pedro, y todavía crees que nos diferenciamos de los animales…

As palavras são de graça, dizia, e se apropriava delas, todas eram suas. Semeou na minha cabeça a ideia de que a realidade não é apenas o que se vê à superfície, tem também uma dimensão mágica e se alguém o deseja veementemente é legitimo que a exagere e lhe dê uma cor para que a passagem por esta vida não seja tão aborrecida.

los incas de la nobleza rara vez tenían consideraciones con su pueblo.

I realized also that in Nahuel, that town of hospitable neighbors, you only had to scratch the surface to uncover the ugliest of vices, though my mentors insisted that cruelty wasn't inherent to the human condition, merely something born of ignorance and poverty. "It's much easier to be generous with a full belly than an empty one," they said. I've never believed that, though, because I've seen that both kindness and cruelty exist everywhere.

You've accepted that you can't change the country much less the world, but you can help some individuals.

My excesses are different but, like Julia, I will not give them up. My mother used to say that the only regrets in our old age are the sins we didn't commit and the things we didn't buy.

My erotic passion is quieter now, and maybe someday it will disappear altogether; I have heard that happens with age. I don't want to think about that possibility right now. If it happens, I hope that passion can be replaced by humor, tenderness, and camaraderie, as some of my older friends who have partners have said.

Dicen que nunca se termina un libro, que simplemente el autor se da por vencido.

Their most notable defect was that they considered work a virtue, even manual labor. They were materialists, conquerors, and they were infused with a messianic enthusiasm for reforming those who did not think as they did; they did not, however, represent an immediate threat to civilization. No

Gervasio Lonquimay

El problema con la ficción es que debe ser creíble, en cambio la realidad rara vez lo es.

Para levantar el ánimo, nada mejor que un capuccino doble inyectado en la vena y una medialuna olorosa, que alivian temporalmente el susto.