Quotes from Isabel Allende

Era a única pessoa de toda a casa que tinha uma chave para entrar no túnel de livros de seu tio e autorização para pegá-los e lê-los. Blanca acreditava que deveriam dosar a leitura, porque havia coisas que não eram adequadas à sua idade, mas seu tio Jaime afirmara que só se lê o que interessa, e, se interessa, é porque já se tem maturidade para fazê-lo.

Since it was already understood that the illness entered the body through the breath and not from a mosquito bite or stomach worms, as had been widely believed, the use of face coverings was ordered. But since there weren't even sufficient masks for health workers, who fought on the front lines, there certainly weren't enough to go around for the general population.

the national sport is to talk about the person who just left the room. In this, too, we are different from our idols, the English, whose principles forbid them from making personal remarks.

acabé de hacerme mujer y aprendí a conducir el timón de mi existencia, no siempre en la forma más elegante, es cierto, pero hay que tener en cuenta que me ha tocado navegar en aguas revueltas.

Treinta y cinco años tenía Pedro de Valdivia cuando llegó con Jerónimo de Alderete a Venezuela, Venecia pequeña, como la llamaron irónicamente los primeros exploradores al ver sus pantanos, canales y chozas en palafitos.

Sadness, my enemy, is gaining ground, Ingrid. At this rate in the years I have left I'm going to turn into a hermit.' 'That would be death in life, Victor. Do as I do. Don't wait to defend yourself against that enemy, go out and confront it. It took me years in therapy to learn that.' 'What reasons do you have to be sad, child?' 'That's what my husband asks me. I don't know, Victor, I suppose you don't need reasons; it's part of your nature.

La felicidad no es exuberante ni bulliciosa, como el placer o la alegría. Es silenciosa, tranquila, suave, es un estado interno de satisfacción que empieza por amarse a sí mismo.

I have lived in a rough sea where waves would lift me and then drop me to the bottom.

Nunca hay que vender la tierra. Es lo único que queda cuando todo se acaba

Nathaniel Belasco had photographed his wife between 1977 and 1983, using one of the first twenty-by-twenty-four Polaroids capable of capturing the tiniest details with the utmost precision.

the string of bastards that was springing up behind him as if by magic.

Si esprimeva con un tono di tale superiorità che mi tornò in mente l'opinione del maestro Juan Ribero, secondo il quale la vanagloria è prerogativa degli ignoranti; il saggio è umile perché sa di sapere poco.

Women's creativity is called craft and is sold cheap; when men create, the result is called art and is costly, like Maurizio Cattelan's banana taped to a Miami art gallery wall with a price tag of US$120,000.

I was very serious about journalism, even though colleagues from that time believe that I invented my reports. I didn't invent them, I merely exaggerated slightly.

More than forty years ago Bella Abzug, the famous activist and congresswoman from New York, summarized the above in one sentence: "In the twenty-first century women will change the nature of power instead of power changing the nature of women." My

Continuaron acariciándose sin deseo y atormentándose con las súplicas y los recuerdos. Saboreaban la amargura de una despedida que presentían, pero que todavía podían confundir con una reconciliación.

La fe no me ha fallado, pero mi relación con Dios ha ido cambiando con los años. A veces, sin pensarlo, lo llamo Ngenechén, y a la Virgen del Socorro la confundo con la Santa Madre Tierra de los mapuche

Recently, a busload of us tourists crossing the border between Chile and Argentina had to wait an hour and a half while our documents were checked. Getting through the Berlin Wall was easier. Kafka was Chilean.

A medida que avanzaba su estado de gravidez, parecía irse despegando irremisiblemente de la realidad y volcándose hacia el interior de sí misma, en un diálogo secreto y constante con la criatura. Esteban

On one occasion, when I asked Juan Martín what he wanted for his birthday, he whispered in my ear, "For you to leave Dad for good." He'd have to ask me several more times.

I am no longer tormented by an excess of discipline, as I was before.

Estaba feliz de haber perdido todo.

It was a long night, perhaps the longest in my life. I spent it sitting next to Rosa's tomb, speaking with her, accompanying her on the first part of her journey to the Hereafter, which is when it's hardest to detach yourself from earth and you need the love of those who have remained behind, so you can leave with at least the consolation of having planted something in someone else's heart.

In Chile, the clerk on duty demands that the poor petitioner produce proof that he was born, that he isn't a criminal, that he paid his taxes, that he registered to vote, and that he's still alive, because even if he throws a tantrum to prove that he hasn't died, he is obliged to present a "certificate of survival.