Isabel Vargas, better known as Chavela Vargas (Costa Rica, 1919 – Mexico, 2012), was an illustrious Mexican singer who popularized and brought popular ranchero music to its zenith.
Her personal style shocked society at the time: she dressed like a man, was armed with a gun, and openly admitted being homosexual in 2000, in a televised interview.
In today’s article Let’s get to know the most outstanding Chavela Vargas phrases as well as some famous quotes that all Mexicans remember with nostalgia.
1. I always knew it. There is no one who can tolerate the freedom of others; Nobody likes to live with a free person. If you are free, that is the price you have to pay: loneliness.
Unfortunately, few are capable of understanding love with such a degree of freedom and autonomy.
2. Love is a step. Goodbye is another… and both must be firm, nothing is forever in life.
A phrase of resignation from the great ranchera singer.
3. When I sing, those who listen to me feel. And they cry because they realize that they are still capable of feeling. Despite the evils of the world.
Human sensitivity is still there despite all the attacks of life.
4. We must fill the planet with violins and guitars instead of so much shrapnel.
A phrase for peace.
5. Only from drunk to drunk do we understand each other.
Famous quote from a renowned alcoholic.
6. I will meet you with you with death. I’m not afraid; I’m not afraid; I have respect for him. Madam, here I am, whenever you want…
Accepting the final destiny, with integrity.
7. Frida spread tenderness like flowers, yes, like flowers. A great tenderness, an infinite tenderness.
Remembering the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo.
8. I will die on Monday, the most boring day but I don’t want crosses or tears. Let Vargas rest.
The eternal rest, longed for by the interpreter.
9. Once there was a knock on the door and I told Frida that he was a hairy old man. It was Leon Trotsky. I didn’t know who he was. It was that man nothing more and nothing less.
A chance meeting with one of the top leaders and leaders of Soviet communism.
11. To believe, you have to feel the need to believe.
One of those Chavela Vargas phrases that has a meaning applicable to everyday life.
12. We must take care of the world, protect love, peace, justice.
About his pacifist spirit.
13. When I enter the stage I feel afraid. But I find something or something finds me. Before finishing the first song I’m already somewhere else. On the side of my audience.
About his feelings just before entering the scene.
14. I have done everything knowingly and I do not regret anything. Neither the good, nor the bad, nor the happy moments, nor the sadness… In the end, my soul is full of peace and tranquility.
His conscience made even his darkest stages lived intensely.
15. Love without measure, without limit, without complex, without permission, without courage, without advice, without doubt, without price, without cure, without anything. Don’t be afraid to love, you will shed tears with or without love.
One of the most remembered famous quotes by Chavela Vargas.
16. Love does not exist, it is an invention of drunken nights.
Beer glasses can alter our perception.
17. Music has no borders, but it does have a common ending: love and rebellion.
Constantly in tune with these two intense and irrational feelings.
18. Women with a past and men with a future are the most interesting people.
Ideal for having a long conversation.
19. What hurts is not being homosexual, but being blamed as if it were a plague.
About his statement on television. She couldn’t stand the stigma associated with her sexual condition.
20. I am not a politician, nor an activist in anything. Singing is my instrument. And I say it singing.
His only language was musical language.
21. You have to know how to feel, you have to know how to fight to earn the respect of others and respect those others.
An ethical maxim to apply to our lives.
22. In a restaurant, a beautiful lady approached me and whispered: Chavela, when do we go to bed? How daring! I love it.
A somewhat risque proposition.
23. I want one day to understand that my message is no longer from the throat, it is no longer from a record, it is no longer from a concert: it is the immense voice of the human individual that is silent, that has no name, that cannot be called in any way. That’s what I feel, that’s what won’t let me die until people know that my singing is not singing, that it is something beyond pain, beyond anguish, beyond knowledge, beyond everything. , of art itself.
The voice of the silenced, according to Chavela Vargas.
24. How beautiful Spain is, what freedom. You feel Spain. You feel the strength of the female of Europe, which is Spain, and just as you feel the strength of the male of America, which is Mexico. I love Spain.
A deep praise for this Iberian land.
25. My relationship with music comes from nature, not from academia. If she had studied to be a singer, perhaps she would have been a great musician, but never Chavela Vargas.
Self-learning made Chavela’s figure great.
26. I have drunk forty-five thousand liters of tequila and I assure you that I can still donate my liver.
A bombproof body.
27. Whatever you want from me I will give you, but I will never give you anything back. That’s how it worked.
An attitude applied in personal relationships.
28. One always returns to the old places where he loved life.
Revisiting these special places can be an intense experience.
29. I am one of those women who has fun even at their own wake.
Fun way to express your jovial character.
30. Goodbye? You never say goodbye, you say I love you.
A more meaningful way to end a conversation or relationship.
31. People look at me like the crazy old woman I am.
About the way in which others judge her for her way of being and aesthetics.
32. A life well lived is the best thing you can remember.
The life story itself is something memorable.
33. I have never slept with a man. Never. Look at the purity, I have nothing to be ashamed of… My gods made me like this.
A consequence of his sexual orientation.
34. I have had to fight to be me and be respected, and carrying that stigma, for me, is a source of pride. Bearing the name of a lesbian. I’m not bragging, I’m not proclaiming it, but I’m not denying it.
Stigma can be an important burden, but it does not eliminate one’s individuality.
35. Life looks better at 93 years old… check it out.
Age brings another way of perceiving things and analyzing them.
36. Love as if there were no tomorrow.
Another of those life mottos that keep their strength in their simplicity.
37. I am one of those people who prefers to love than to be loved. But you have to be thankful that they love you.
About his stance when it comes to love.
38. To enjoy: love. To suffer: love. To live: love. To die: love. To laugh: love. To cry: love… and for everything else, love.
Everything is contained in this very human component.
39. Distances separate cities, cities destroy customs.
About the advancement of the globalized world.
40. Loneliness does not weaken me, it strengthens me, it fills me with something strange that nourishes me, it speaks to me at night, it tells me stories, stories that are true, that are truths.
Imagination can be a powerful remedy against the negative effects of loneliness.
41. The years have taught me nothing, I always fall into the same mistakes again, to toast with strangers and cry for the same pains.
Simply exposing ourselves to new experiences does not guarantee us learning.
42. The soul is worth more than millions. That’s how we are. And I love being like that and that’s how I’m going to die, free!
Demonstrating his mentality in rejection of materialism.
43. I leave you my freedom as an inheritance.
A reference on how to live without unnecessary ties.
44. I am going to scream with all my soul so that the world knows that I am alive. Live from living so much. Live from so much love.
The vital attitude was a characteristic of her.
45. Those simple things that remain painful in the heart.
There are small events capable of dealing a hard blow to us.
46. ​​Freedom is not only loneliness, it is also poverty. Being free is poor. I wouldn’t want, for anything in the world, to be in the shoes of that Mexican who they say is one of the richest or the richest in the world. He surely is not a free being.
That kind of power also binds.
47. Give your kisses, sell your caresses, rent your soul… after me, do whatever you want.
About heartbreak and breakup.
48. When Mexicans believed in their gods, it was different. The indigenous people are still strong people. Despite everything, his strength continues to sustain the world.
A capacity for resilience that defines them as a people.
49. Mexico has magic. And I looked for the magic and I found it.
Another example of the appreciation that this singer had for the country.
50. I love that there is entertainment when I am alive. When I’m dead, leave me alone.
For her, these signs of appreciation should be given when there are those who can enjoy them.
51. Mexico is my land. I wasn’t born here but I love it. It is the most beautiful country in the world.
Praises for Mexico were a constant in the life of this singer.
52. The weight that falls on the skin after a concert is too much. An enormous weight that covers the soul. It is the weight of loneliness.
There is a contrast between fame and meaningful personal relationships.
53. Lovers of the world: sometimes it is more beautiful to remember than to live.
Memories are in themselves a set of experiences with great value.
54. Mexico is asleep, but it is a giant. A sleeping giant. I don’t even want to think about what’s going to happen when he wakes up…when the giant wakes up, the hypocrisy, the farce, everything that makes Mexico a poor country will go away.
About the potential of the Mexican country.
55. I have had to confront society, with the Church, which says that homosexuals are damned… It is absurd. How are you going to judge a being who was born like this. I didn’t study as a lesbian. I wasn’t even taught to be like that. I was born like this. Since I opened my eyes to the world.
In defense of the rights of those who have a non-normative sexual orientation.
56. Nobody dies of love, neither from lack nor from excess.
It may bring very intense emotions, but it does not stop our hearts.
57. Since I got on the plane and saw the Mexican flag I was very excited. I was looking for Mexico, I believed in Mexico without knowing it.
One of those Chavela Vargas phrases full of patriotism.
58. Whatever you want from me I will give it to you. But I don’t return your kisses.
About the way in which loving relationships transform us.
59. I am like the green chili llorona: spicy but tasty.
A comparison as simple as it is clear.
60. Neither Isabel nor Chabelita, Chavela!
Your personal brand.
61. If I have already given you life, what more do you want? Do you want more!
Life in itself is not enough to live a full existence.
62. He taught me many things and I learned a lot, and without bragging about anything; I grabbed the sky with my hands, with every word, every morning!
There are people who leave a mark on us as mentors and sources of knowledge and inspiration.
63. Yesterday I cried to see you, Llorona, and today I cried because I saw you.
A paradoxical situation.
64. One day I went for a walk and I fell. I couldn’t get up anymore. It’s life collecting its salary. It is life that takes back what it gave you or what is to come. Life gets ahead of you. It’s life that tells you, I’m going to charge you for this. Well, he doesn’t tell you but there is the combination of life and soul.
Nothing should be taken for granted.
65. And when you are happiest, out of nowhere, a tear will come to you for my memory.
Painful memories can cause us to experience the present differently.
66. You were my only desire on those drunken nights.
One of Chavela Vargas’s phrases that refer to passion, that very human facet.
67. I don’t deserve anything more than what I have. That’s why they call me a millionaire, because I have what I want without having money, and that’s wonderful.
An assessment of their living conditions, beyond the economic.
68. Mexico has a place for foreigners, it has a strange song. To say Mexico is to say sweet, sweet Mexico. The word Mexico, not Argentina, not Brazil, no. Mexico is the divine word, the magic word, the wise word. It is its sound and it is the color that appears in the brain when we say it; It is its aroma. Mexico.
Expressing your love for this country.
69. Let’s not condemn what we experienced yesterday to shipwreck, for our love I ask you, wait, I still have springs left in my hands to fill you with all new caresses, which would die in my hands if you left.
What has happened, just because it is not in the present, does not stop being a reality.
70. There are times when I think I’m dead… when I wake up I hear myself talking and I think that, in reality, I’m dead. But I return, I always return to life.
A phenomenon related to the way in which reality is experienced.
71. Love is simple and simple things are devoured by time.
An interesting aphorism about love.
72. I didn’t give a damn what they said… The males didn’t like that I showed up to sing in men’s pants. But I didn’t care. Unless they were too clever. So I did get the Chavela Vargas thing.
Challenging gender roles may cause negative reactions in some, but that doesn’t mean you should give in to these pressures.
