Loved and hated in equal parts, Arturo Pérez-Reverte (Cartagena, 1951) is a Spanish writer and journalist who has, among many other distinctions, the honor of representing a letter (or vocal position) in the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language.
He graduated in Journalism from the Complutense University of Madrid. His professional career began as a correspondent for Spanish Television in different war conflicts around the world, back in 2003. Later he debuted as a writer with his saga El Capitán Alatriste, which was an unprecedented success.
In today’s article we are going to learn more about the figure of this irreverent writer and journalist through the seventy best famous phrases of Arturo Pérez-Reverte
If we have forgotten any reflection or thought of Pérez-Reverte that deserves to appear on this list, please note it in the comments section.
1. He was not the most honest or the most pious man, but he was a brave man.
About Captain Alatriste, a character who gives his name to what is perhaps his best-selling book.
2. No one should leave without leaving Troy burning behind them.
In the face of injustice, it is better to make things clear and leave.
3. Books are doors that lead you to the street, Patricia said. With them you learn, you educate yourself, you travel, you dream, you imagine, you live other lives and multiply yours by a thousand.
About the usefulness of reading.
4. It’s nice to be happy, he thought. And know it while you are.
Being aware of a pleasant and full life multiplies happiness.
5. Always be wary of those who are readers of only one book.
A good thinker has many references.
6. The heroism of others is always incredibly moving.
One of Arturo Pérez-Reverte’s most remembered phrases.
7. The man… believes he is a woman’s lover, when in reality he is only her witness.
Men, always begging women.
8. The problem with words is that, once cast, they cannot return to their owner on their own. So sometimes they turn them on the point of a steel.
We are owners and slaves of the given word.
9. In a world where horror is sold as art, where art is born with the intention of being photographed, where living with images of suffering has no relationship with conscience or compassion, war photos are of no use. nothing.
10. Regarding dogs, no one who has not lived with them will ever know in depth how far the words generosity, company and loyalty go. No one who has not felt a wet muzzle on their arm trying to get between you and the book you are reading, demanding a caress, or has seen that noble head tilted to one side, those large, dark, faithful eyes, looking waiting for a gesture. or a simple word, you will be able to fully understand what crackled in my blood when I read those lines; That in dog fights, the animal, if his master is with him, gives everything.
A praise to the canine friends.
11. We take photos, not for the purpose of remembering, but to complete them later with the rest of our lives. That’s why there are photos that are right and photos that aren’t. Images that time puts in their place, attributing to some their authentic meaning, and denying others that fade on their own, just as if the colors were erased with time.
A great reflection about the authenticity (or not) that the photographs hide.
12. While there is death – he noted – there is hope. – Is this another date? – It’s a bad joke.
An irony from Reverte’s pen.
13. But time passes, and it lasts. And there is a moment when everything stagnates. The days stop counting, hope fades… That’s when you become a real prisoner. Professional, to say the least. A patient prisoner.
When the limits of your daily life constrain you, you have probably become a professional, in the worst sense of the word.
14. I don’t tolerate that. —Well, if you’re so kind, check your tolerance limits.
In the age of intolerance, raising your voice is often frowned upon.
15. When I see all those black, brown, red or blue shirts, demanding that you join this or that, I think that before the world was for the rich and now it is going to be for the resentful.
A society in which everyone seeks revenge.
16. All wars are bad, but civil war is the worst of all, because it pits friend against friend, neighbor against neighbor, brother against brother. Almost 80 years ago, between 1936 and 1939, in the times of our grandparents and great-grandparents, a terrible civil war took place in Spain. It caused thousands of deaths, destroyed homes, ruined the country and drove many people into exile. To prevent such a devastating tragedy from ever happening again, it is advisable to remember how it happened. Thus, useful conclusions can be drawn from that misfortune about peace and coexistence that should never be lost. Terrible lessons that we must never forget.
A reflection by Pérez-Reverte on the Spanish civil war.
17. For better or for worse, despite the Turk, the French, the Dutch, the English and the whore who gave birth to them, Spain had, for a century and a half, firmly holding on to Europe and the world by the balls.
About the homeland that once was great.
18. It is doubt that keeps people young. Certainty is like an evil virus. It infects you with old age.
Only when we feel uncertainty do we become passionate about things.
19. The bad thing about these things is that, until the tail passes, everything is bull.
Ironic reflection of the great Arthur.
20. All things considered, the world has stopped thinking about death. Believing that we are not going to die makes us weak, and worse.
We try to distance death from our thoughts and that only achieves the opposite effect.
21. I had learned that the bad thing was not the waiting, but the things you imagine while you wait.
Patience always has a reward, if you know how to manage the wait.
22. The world has never known as much about itself and its nature as it does now, but it is of no use to it. There have always been tidal waves, mind you. What happens is that before we did not intend to have luxury hotels on the beachfront… Man creates euphemisms and smoke screens to deny the laws of nature. Also to deny the infamous condition that is typical of him. And each awakening costs him two hundred dead from a crashing plane, two hundred thousand from a tsunami or a million from a civil war.
About the ignorance of our time, despite having all the means to drive it away.
23. Can someone tell me what the hell that is? And he pointed towards the valley with an imperious and imperial finger, the one he had used to point out the Pyramids when that of the forty centuries or – in another order of things – the cot to María Valewska.
A fragment of The Shadow of the Eagle.
24. I believe that in today’s world the only possible freedom is indifference. That’s why I will continue living with my sword and my horse.
A fashion trend.
25. Thanks to you I can no longer believe in the certainties of those who have a house, a family, some friends.
To reflect.
26. And is what they say true? That a woman’s character is shown most sincerely when she dances? -Sometimes. But no more than that of a man.
Interesting reflection about how dance shows us the true essence of each person.
27. A discerning woman – she continues – guesses the pedant in the third sentence, and is able to see the talent of the one who remains silent.
About the female sixth sense.
28. There is nothing more despicable or dangerous than an evil person who goes to sleep every night with a clear conscience.
About cynics and their modus operandi.
29. The Greek philosophers were right when they said that war was the mother of all things.
Peace is born from war, unfortunately.
30. A woman is never just a woman, dear Max. She is herself too, and above all, the men that she had, that she has and that she could have. None is explained without them.
Influences that come and go.
31. Brutalized in their small miseries, without seeing beyond. Without wishing for the dawn of ideas that liberate them… Oblivious to anything other than eating, drinking, fighting, sleeping and procreating.
About men of little enlightenment.
32. This is also the story of my life, he thought, or part of it: looking for a taxi at dawn, smelling like a woman or a lost night, without one thing contradicting the other.
Diary of a womanizer.
33. …Well, nothing better defines the Spain of my century, and that of all, than the image of the poor and miserable gentleman, dying of hunger, who does not work because it is a disgrace to his condition; And although he fasts daily he goes out into the street with a sword, putting on airs, and puts breadcrumbs in his beard so that his neighbors will think that he has eaten.
A raw portrait of the half-Spanish man.
34. Thus, after having had a good number of lovers, a woman should consider herself lucky if she knows how to turn one of them, the most intelligent, into a faithful and loyal friend.
A reflection on love from a woman’s perspective.
35. With Russians and with women you never know.
Unpredictable.
36. You were a good photographer because photographing is framing, and framing is choosing and excluding. Save some things and condemn others. Not everyone can do that: stand as judge of everything that happens around them. No one who truly loves can dictate that kind of sentence.
About the profession of photographer: deciding what to teach and what not.
37. And it is true that any detail can change a life: a path that is taken, for example, or that takes time to take because of a conversation, a cigarette, a memory.
The importance of small details and coincidences.
38. Those sons of bitches are already difficult as allies, so when they know that we are shooting our countrymen so that that guy, Goya, can paint them in oils, imagine what they can organize for us.
Ironic historical reference.
39. Let us return to Spain and let each dog lick its own organ, mesié, in other words.
Addressed to the French.
40. From time to time the human race needs to go to hell for a while. Leave safely, and have someone give you a little push to make the trip easier.
Humanity tends to embarrass others quite a bit.
41. Those who are only interested in books do not need anyone, and that scares me.
Anyone who has such one-dimensional interests is not trustworthy.
42. …He knew very well… the simple reasons why a man with the appropriate doses of fanaticism, resentment or mercenary profit motive could kill indiscriminately.
Their stories from the war.
43. Man tortures and kills because it is his thing. He likes.
Of course, centuries and centuries attest to this fact.
44. I’m tired of this living room jerk, with his red cord and his shamelessness camouflaged behind a dry politeness that deceives no one. If you’re looking for me, it’s time you found me.
Brave in the face of attacks.
45. Only an organized and strong State, protector of its artists, thinkers and scientists, is capable of providing the material and moral progress of a nation… And that is not our case.
This is not the case of Spain, precisely.
46. Don’t tell me that it is not shameful for the human species to have measured the distance from the Earth to the Sun, to have weighed all the nearby planets, and not to have discovered the fruitful laws that make people happy.
Sometimes science eats us up.
47. Today I say something that I agree with: it is not tyrants who make slaves, but slaves who make tyrants. – With an aggravating circumstance, dear friend… In times of darkness, man’s ignorance was excusable. In an enlightened century like this, it is unforgivable.
There is no excuse for a person to be ignorant when access to information is practically free.
48. It would be fair to remember that, in times of darkness, there were always good men who fought to bring light and progress to their compatriots… And that there was no shortage of those who tried to prevent it.
Good and bad citizens, in all times.
49. Twelve hours in bed, four in the dressing table, five on visits and three on a walk, or at the theater.
About the average bourgeois.
50. In war you survive thanks to terrain accidents. That leaves a special sense of the landscape. Don’t you think so?
The shots don’t come if you cover yourself well.
51. We reached the coast with the rest of the regiment and the Danes and the Mondieus close at our heels, bang-bang and everyone running, fag last.
A brief and direct story about a war context.
52. That for a weak dog, everything is fleas, and we Spaniards don’t need anyone to ruin us, because we always master the finibusterre of doing it alone.
Experts in digging our own grave.
53. Well, always, being lucid and Spanish brought with it great bitterness and little hope.
Intelligent people born in Spain usually have a bad destiny.
54. My name is Boris Balkan and I once translated The Charterhouse of Parma. For the rest, the criticisms and reviews that I write appear in supplements and magazines throughout Europe, I organize courses on contemporary writers at summer universities, and I have some published books on popular 19th century novels. Nothing spectacular, I’m afraid; especially in these times where suicides are disguised as homicides, novels are written by Rogelio Ackroyd’s doctor, and too many people insist on publishing two hundred pages about the exciting experiences they experience looking in the mirror.
Fragment of The Dumas Club.
55. As for me, I only know that I know nothing. And when I want to know I look in books, which my memory never fails.
About his constant learning process.
56. Things change a lot, in this sense, touring La Mancha with Don Quixote in your hands, visiting Palermo having read The Leopard, walking through Buenos Aires with Borges or Bioy Casares in your memory, or walking through Hisarlik knowing that there was a city called Troy, and that the traveler’s shoes carry the same dust through which Achilles dragged Hector’s corpse tied to his chariot.
Another fragment of one of his works.
57. A library is not something to read, but a company,” he said, after taking a few more steps. A remedy and a consolation.
Ode to libraries.
58. I am convinced that every building, every painting, every old book that is destroyed or lost, makes us a little more orphaned. It impoverishes us.
About the destruction of culture.
59. As you know, I like to remember old episodes from our history. Especially if they cause respect for what some of our countrymen were capable of doing. Or try. Situations with possible parallel reading, applicable to the times in which we live. I assure you that it is an almost analgesic exercise; especially those disastrous days, when I believe that the only solution would be tons of napalm followed by a repopulation of mixed couples composed, for example, of Swedes and Africans. However, when one of those old stories comes to mind, I conclude that perhaps napalm is not essential. There were always compatriots here capable of doing worthwhile things, I tell myself. And somewhere they will still be.
Arturo Pérez-Reverte and his interest in historical facts.
60. In a venal world, made of hypocrisy and false ways, the powerful, the carrion vultures, the envious, the cowards and the scoundrels usually cover up for each other.
Of the same kind.
61. To insist, at this point, that I generally appreciate dogs more than men is an obvious one that I will not emphasize too much. I have once said that if the human race disappeared from the face of the earth, it would gain a lot from the change; while without dogs it would be a darker and more unbearable place. Question of loyalty, I guess. There are those who value some things and those who value others. For my part, I believe that unconditional loyalty, proof of everything, is one of the few things that cannot be bought with rhetoric or money. Maybe that’s why loyalty, in men or animals, always makes my sunglasses a little wet.
His love for dogs is greater than that he professes for humanity.
62. Thus you will be able to educate yourself and study laws to bleed the litigants of your last maravedí; as your graces do, lawyers, notaries and other people of bad living.
The misuse of laws in the hands of the powerful.
63. After all, what would we do without ourselves, I thought. Life is a shipwreck, and everyone swims as best they can.
Great metaphor about existence.
64. Imagine the picture: would it be your grace to come to the light and undress yourself, gentleman, thank you, I see that you are the fairest, allow me to introduce a quarter of Toledo steel into your livers.
Phrase loaded with sarcasm.
65. The principle is true: weakness suits a woman, and we know it. We are interested in appearing delicate and in need of men.
They take advantage of that helpless image, according to Pérez-Reverte.
66. In life the bad thing is not knowing, but showing that you know.
Pedantry deducts many points.
67. Body to body I have to kill him wherever Seville sees him, in the square or on the street; that no one can excuse anyone who kills and does not fight; and he who dies by treason gains more than he who kills him.
A fragment of one of his works.
68. Ah, well said, sir. A libertine occupies the social place that many other men do not dare or cannot occupy… They lack, or we lack, what it is necessary to have.
His healthy envy of men with happy lives.
69. If I do not fear losing what I possess, nor desire to have what I do not enjoy, little of the fortune in me will be worth the destruction, when I am chosen as an actor or a prisoner.
Great phrase by Arturo Pérez-Reverte to reflect on.
70. As the secretary has just read, it is about choosing two good men from among our colleagues.
