41 quotes
Photographs deceive time, freezing it on a piece of cardboard where the soul is silent.
Of Love and Shadows (1984)
Silence before being born, silence after death: life is nothing but noise between two unfathomable silences.
Paula (1994)
How accommodating love is; it forgives everything.
Inés of My Soul (2006)
For women, the best aphrodisiacs are words. The G-spot is in the ears. He who looks for it below there is wasting his time.
Of Love and Shadows (1984)
It’s easy to judge others when we are not going through the same thing.
Maya's Notebook (2011)
Fear is inevitable, I have to accept that, but I cannot allow it to paralyze me.
The Sum of Our Days: A Memoir (2007)
He realized...that the loudest are the least sincere, that arrogance is a quality of the ignorant, and that flatterers tend to be vicious.
Zorro (2005)
The political future of Chile is a democracy, without a doubt.
In Interviews with Latin American Writers (1989)
Where does taste end and smell begin?
The written word is an act of human solidarity. I write so that people will love each other more.
In Interviews with Latin American Writers (1989)
The theme of displacement is very natural for me. It always comes up in my books because I have been a foreigner all my life and I don’t feel I belong anywhere. I’m an immigrant.
Pain is universal. We all experience pain, loss, and death the same way.
“It’s easy to judge others if you’ve never suffered an experience like that” (p250)
Maya's Notebook (2011)
Jealousy. The person who hasn't felt it cannot know how much it hurts, or imagine the madness committed in its name. (p368)
Portrait in Sepia (2000)
Everybody has a story and all stories are interesting if they are told in the right tone.
Alexander Cold awakened at dawn, startled by a nightmare. (first line)
Inés of My Soul (2006)
I work with emotions; language is the tool, the instrument.
The only reality is now, today. What are you waiting for to be happy?...Happiness is not exuberant or noisy, like pleasure or joy; it’s silent, tranquil, and gentle; it’s a feeling of satisfaction inside that begins with self-love.
The Japanese Lover (2015)
"My son, the Holy Church is on the right, but Jesus Christ was always on the left.” (p182)
The House of the Spirits (1982)
Write what should not be forgotten.
The Japanese Lover (2015)