Quotes from Arturo Pérez-Reverte

I have spent my whole life trying to preserve a certain idea of myself, and that is all. You have to cling to a set of values that do not depreciate with time. Everything else is the fashion of the moment, fleeting, mutable. In a word, nonsense.

When it comes to politics and women, you have to taste all the sauces, but you must never let either one or the other give you indigestion.

y es cierto eso que dicen? ¿Que el carácter de una mujer se muestra con más sinceridad cuando baila? ?A veces. Pero no más que el de un hombre

That was the problem with modern day witches , thought Corso : they didn't have any secrets . Everything was out in the open , you could read all about them in any Who's Who or gossip column . Baronesses or not , they had become predictable , vulgar . Torquemada would have been bored to death by it all .

En realidad estoy menos orgulloso de lo que soy que de lo que he conseguido no ser.

As far as cheating goes , you have illustrious predecessors . Theseus escaped from the labyrinth thanks to Ariadne's thread , Jason stole the golden fleece with Medea's help .... The Kaurabas used subterfuge to win at dice in the Mahabharata , and the Achaeans checkmated the Trojans by moving a wooden horse . Your conscience is clear .

El español, una vez decidida la estocada que se propone dar, la ejecuta ciegamente aunque así lo hagan pedazos (PIERRE DE BRANTÔME).

The men buckled on their weapons and started outside amid high expectations, taking care not to leave their backs unguarded -- just in case -- for Jesus may have said something about brothers, but he made no mention of cousins.

También ésta es la historia de mi vida, pensó, o parte de ella: buscar un taxi de madrugada, oliendo a mujer o a noche perdida, sin que una cosa contradiga la otra.

Always that damned discipline that you wear like chain mail ... You would have got on well with Bernard de Clairvaux and his gang of Knights Templar. If you'd been captured by Saladin, I'm sure you'd rather have had your throat cut than renounce your faith. But not from devotion, from pride.

E agora tinha a certeza de uma coisa vislumbrada ao princípio (...) que não há dois livros iguais porque nunca houve dois leitores iguais. E que cada livro lido é, como cada ser humano, um livro singular, uma história única e um mundo à parte.

Así, tras haber tenido buen número de amantes, una mujer debe considerarse afortunada si sabe convertir a alguno de ellos, el más inteligente, en un fiel y leal amigo.

He'd have given a rare incunabulum, in good condition, to punch the face of whoever was writing this ridiculus script.

Una mujer perspicaz —continúa ella— adivina al pedante en la tercera frase, y es capaz de ver el talento del que guarda silencio.

Cambia mucho las cosas, en tal sentido, recorrer la Mancha con el Quijote en las manos, visitar Palermo habiendo leído El Gatopardo, pasear por Buenos Aires con Borges o Bioy Casares en el recuerdo, o caminar por Hisarlik sabiendo que allí hubo una ciudad llamada Troya, y que los zapatos del viajero llevan el mismo polvo por el que Aquiles arrastró el cadáver de Héctor atado a su carro.

è un terribile errore misurare le proprie forze contro quelle dei potenti, con cui è più facile perdere che vincere. È molto meglio pazientare senza fare rimostranze fino a quando il tempo o il caso non ci metteranno l'avversario a tiro di daga […] Nel caso contrario, pazienza: perché, in fin dei conti, l'ultima parola spetta a Dio ed è lui che mescola le carte, le sue e quelle di tutti noi.

Era usted un buen fotógrafo porque fotografiar es encuadrar, y encuadrar es elegir y excluir. Salvar unas cosas y condenar otras. No todo el mundo puede hacer eso: erguirse juez de cuanto pasa alrededor. Nadie que ame de verdad puede dictar esa clase de sentencias.

Audience turn to archetype packed stories to enjoy, whether consciously or unconsciously, the device of repeated plots with small variations. Dispositio rather than elocution. That's why the serial, even the most trite television serial, can become a cult both for a naïve audience and for a more sophisticated one.

A reader is the total of all he's read, in addition to all the films and television he's seen.

de vez en cuando el género humano necesite irse un rato al carajo. Irse bien ido, y que alguien dé un empujoncito para facilitar el viaje. Tal

El hombre tortura y mata porque es lo suyo. Le gusta.

conocía de sobra... los motivos simples por los que un hombre con las dosis adecuadas de fanatismo, rencor o ánimo de lucro mercenario podía matar indiscriminadamente.

A mí no me mueve el amor por la humanidad, sino el desprecio hacia ella.

Con rusos y con mujeres nunca se sabe.