Quotes from Isabel Allende

the thirty-some years since then, his mind had eliminated that experience from his memory. He remembered it as if he'd read it in a book, not as something personal, although he has scars and burn marks on his body and can't lift his arms above shoulder height, because

he was not in favor of their acquiring any additional learning, for fear they would fill their minds with ideas unsuited to their station and condition.

pero después decidimos que lo peor es tenerle miedo al miedo

ya no hago concesiones fácilmente; adiós a los tacones altos, las dietas y la paciencia con los tontos; y he aprendido a decir que NO a lo que no me agrada sin sentirme culpable. Mi vida es mejor ahora, pero no me interesa el reposo del guerrero, prefiero mantener algo de ardor en la mente y la sangre.

Tengo mil preguntas que hacerle, pero temo que cuando pueda contestarme ya habrá olvidado cómo era el cielo... Silencio antes de nacer, silencio después de la muerte, la vida es puro ruido entre dos insondables silencios.

Years later my Popo would laugh and tell people that if she hadn't knocked him out in the first round, he'd still be wandering around in love with the stars.

un ser extraordinariamente pequeño, casi calvo, arrugado y pálido, sin más signo de inteligencia humana que sus negros ojos relucientes, con una sabia expresión de ancianidad desde la cuna.

in itself age doesn't make anyone better or wiser, but only accentuates what they have always been.

In Chile, poverty and solidarity go hand in hand.

our demons lose their power when we pull them out of the depths where they hide and look them in the face in broad daylight. But

Occasions for appealing to public compassion are never wanting in a nation eternally rocked by catastrophes that shake the foundations of life, floods that sweep away entire towns, gigantic waves that deposit ships in the center of a plaza. We are created in the idea that life is precarious, and we are always waiting for the next calamity to happen.

Sometimes I am assaulted by the memory of a scene from that time on the street, a memory that flares up inside me and leaves me trembling. Other times I wake up sweating with images in my head, as vivid as if they were real. In the dream I see myself running naked, screaming voicelessly, in a labyrinth of narrow alleys that coil like serpents, buildings with blank doors and windows, not a soul to ask for help, my body burning, my feet bleeding, bile in my mouth, all alone.

but his monumental pride prevented him from recognizing in the man any virtues beyond those that marked him as a good peon.

escondían las horas? Se me escurrían como sal entre los dedos, vivía en un compás de espera, pero no había nada que esperar, sólo otro día exacto al anterior, aletargada frente a la televisión con Freddy.

Tal como decía Daniel Belalcázar, no vale la pena sufrir de antemano por las desgracias que posiblemente no ocurrirán.

willpower. He recalled very clearly his years of fear, the torment at school, and the superhuman effort he had made to study a profession that required an evil streak completely missing in him. He

Echaba de menos sexo, romance y amor. El primero lo conseguía de vez en cuando, el segundo era cuestión de suerte y el tercero era un premio del cielo que seguramente no le tocaría

Privacy is a luxury of the well-to-do because most Chileans have none. Middle-class families and below live in very close quarters, in many homes several people sleep in the same bed. When there is more than one room, the dividing walls are so thin that every sigh comes right through.

I lived in a state of contained fury that didn't manifest in tantrums or door slamming, only eternal, accusing silence.

how much more dangerous the world was for women, how we should cross the street if a man's coming toward us and there's nobody else around and avoid them completely if they're in a group, watch our backs, look to both sides, turn invisible.

Jaime vio a su madre avanzar por el corredor, descalza, con el pelo suelto en la espalda, arropada con su bata blanca y notó que no era alta y fuerte como la había visto en su infancia.

Igual que en el momento de venir al mundo, al morir tenemos miedo de lo desconocido. Pero el miedo es algo interior que no tiene nada que ver con la realidad. Morir es como nacer: sólo un cambio

Não se pode encontrar quem não quer ser encontrado.

Cada tribu tenía un shabono, una gran choza común en forma circular, techada con paja y abierta hacia un patio interior. Vivían todos juntos, compartiendo desde la comida hasta la crianza de los niños. Sin embargo, el contacto con los extranjeros estaba acabando con las tribus: no sólo les contagiaban enfermedades del cuerpo, también otras del alma.