Quotes from Henning Mankell

Le gusta esa idea. Es una idea que nunca compartirá con nadie. Es una idea que hace que él sea él y no otro.

The westerly wind whines sharp, wild gees cry in the sky, the frosty morning's moon. Frosty the morning's moon, Horses' hooves clatter hard, Stifled the sound of the trumpet. Mao Zedong, 1935

De repente notó que la vieja confianza que los unía cuando eran niños había desaparecido.

A close relationship, she thought. As far as they are concerned, all that means is a threat to which they don't want to expose themselves.

Growing older is like walking on thinner and thinner ice.

soul-sucking vampires who were profiting from the increased sense of helplessness in society.

The passage of time was relentless and capricious, and one would lose the battle with it in the end. The only resistance a man could offer was to make the most of time, exploit it without trying to prevent its progress.

At what point does the normal suddenly become the abnormal? he

Ya Ru's father had drowned in the big political tidal wave that Mao had set in motion.

The whole of China was overshadowed by the injustice of the past.

The dread of something menacing that you felt when you were a child returns when you get old.

Something that makes it possible for me to start thinking about the future again.

There is a silence in empty houses that is unique... People have left and taken all the noise with them.

He always put off the most important matters affecting his own life. When he was at work, on the other hand, he insisted on arguing for precisely the opposite approach. Always do the most important things first. He had a split personality.

He was religious, but had refrained from allowing his religious ideals to be obscured by a god.

self-preservation was more important than revenge, and

Being a refugee meant being lonely. This was something that was true for them all, regardless of what country they had come from or what circumstances had forced them to flee.

Freedom, security, these were what they wanted. A life where fear, hunger, and hopelessness were not the only reality.

The people in the refugee camp, so varied in their language, dress, and terrible experiences -- imparted through a look or sometimes words -- had only this in common: nothing to look forward to.

There is a special kind of beauty that manifests itself only in the faces of really old women. Their furrowed skin contains all the marks and memories imprinted by a life lived. Old women whose bodies the earth is crying out to embrace. I

But dreams can be of value even if you don't have an opportunity to turn them into reality.

Life tosses us all hither and thither. Is there anything we can truly decide for ourselves?

fighting crime is simply a question of endurance; about which side can outlast the other.

I'm too old for talks. I gave that up when I turned sixty. I'd done enough talking in my life by then. Nowadays I neither speak nor listen to what anybody else has to say.