Quotes from books

The spy

"The crimes I did commit, I escaped, the greatest of which was being an emancipated and independent woman in a world ruled by men."

"Memory is a river, one that always runs backward."

"Memories are full of caprice, where images of things we've experienced are still capable of suffocating us through one small detail or insignificant sound."

"Memories can bring with them a devil called melancholy."

"The memories always win, and with them comes a demon that is even more terrifying that melancholy: remorse."

"I am a woman who was born at the wrong time and nothing can be done to fix this."

"Yes, I was a prostitute- if by that you mean someone who receives favours and jewellery in exchange for affection and pleasure."

"Even the tallest trees are able to grow from tiny seeds. Remember this, and try not to rush time."

"I was not asking to be happy; I was asking only to not be as unhappy and miserable as I felt."

"Everyone flirts with danger, so long as that danger does not really exist."

"Never fall in love. Love is a poison. Once you fall in love, you lose control over your life- your heart and mind belong to someone else. Your existence is threatened. You start to do everything to hold on to your loved one and lose all sense of danger. Love, that inexplicable and dangerous thing, sweeps everything you are from the face of the earth and, in its place, leaves only what your beloved wants you to be."

"Love kills suddenly, leaving no evidence of the crime."

"When we don't know where life is taking us, we are never lost."

"That is an artist's mission, to go beyond one's limits. An artist who desires very little and achieves it has failed in life."

"I had never done that before. I thought that speaking about my wounds would only make them more real. And yet the exact opposite was taking place: my tears were healing me.

At times I punched my fists into the gravel beach and my hands bled, but I didn't even feel the pain. I was being healed. I understood why Catholics confess, even though they must know priests share the same sins, or worse. It did not matter who was listening; what mattered was leaving the wound open for the sun to purify and the rainwater to wash. That is what I was doing now, in front of a man with whom I had not intimacy. That was the real reason I was able to speak so freely."

"Love is an act of faith and its face should always be covered in mystery. Every moment should be lived with feeling and emotion because if we try to decipher it and understand it, the magic disappears. We follow its winding and luminous paths, we let ourselves go to the highest peak or the deepest seas, but we trust in the hand that led us. If we do not allow ourselves to be frightened, we will always awaken in a palace; if we fear the steps that will be required by love and want it to reveal everything to us, the result is that we will be left with nothing."

"Love does not obey anyone and will betray those who try to decipher its mystery."