The 90 Best Phrases of Carlos Ruiz Zafón

Being the most read Spanish writer in the world after Miguel de Cervantes is a merit awarded as a consequence of effort and literary talent. In each of Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s phrases we can find an invitation to explore our critical sense and enjoy classic literature.

Recently, on June 19, 2020, Carlos Ruiz Zafón died due to colon cancer that he had fought in recent years. From Psicología y Mente we want to remember and pay a small tribute to this fantastic Spanish author.

The wind’s shadow, The game of the angel and The Cemetery of the Forgottenare the most representative works of his narrative, and led him to obtain important awards and are considered one of the best-known and representative writings of Spain.

The best phrases and reflections of Carlos Ruiz Zafón

In this space we have prepared a compilation of the best phrases by Carlos Ruiz Zafón that reflect his passion for narrative and his thinking.

1. I want to be a respectable man again, you know? Not for me, because the respect of this group of monkeys we call humanity makes me very weak, but for her

In this phrase by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, the desire to be in search of personal evolution in the name of love is expressed.

2. I believe only in what I see

In this phrase the position is radical.

3. When there is class, speed is a trifle

Phrase by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, from his work Marina.

4. His mere presence seemed to me to be a propaganda ploy in favor of the moral emptiness of the universe and the mechanical brutality with which it destroyed the pieces that were no longer useful to them.

A reference to the mystery of how some things can no longer help us.

5. Mother Nature is a huge whore

Sometimes nature is not generous with us and puts us in situations that are like a backpack that we carry for the rest of our lives.

6. Good words are vain kindnesses that do not require any sacrifice and are appreciated more than kindnesses in fact

This phrase by Carlos Ruiz Zafón tells us about the value of expressed benevolence

7. Life is the mortgage of the soul: even if one leaves with good intentions, moving forward implies committing betrayal, with others or with oneself. There are those who are fortunate enough to not fall into it too much and those who are directly a son of a bitch, but we all have the dilemma about whether or not we do the right thing.

A reflection on what we know as free will.

8. Do you like mysteries? I think if you had asked me if I liked arsenic my answer would have been the same.

Mysteries can be fascinating but they also involve a waste of energy, which if we can avoid it is much better.

9. Do you know the best thing about broken hearts? That can only really be broken once. The rest are scratches

This phrase by Carlos Ruiz Zafón tells us about how we learn and overcome experiences.

10. Whoever really wants wants in silence, with actions and never with words

The actions are what count.

11. There are times and places when being nobody is more honorable than being someone

Many times we build an image with unreliable or empty foundations.

12. The moment you stop to think about whether you love someone, you have already stopped loving them forever.

This phrase by Carlos Ruiz Zafón says that doubt regarding love for something is synonymous with insecurity.

13. Every book, every volume you see, has a soul. The soul of the one who wrote it, and the soul of those who read it and lived and dreamed of it.

A beautiful reflection on the dynamic between author and reader.

14. Books are mirrors: you only see in them what you already have inside

Phrase by Carlos Ruiz Zafón that talks about the value of books and how they resonate with us.

15. In an infinite universe, many things escape human reason

Beautiful reflection on things that are difficult to explain due to their complexity and depth.

16. We exist as long as someone remembers us

We exist because we have been recognized, because we resonate with others. It is probably the most important mark we leave.

17. Nobody asks about what they prefer to ignore

This phrase by Carlos Ruíz Zafón tells us about the comfort zone

18. A good liar knows that the most effective lie is always a truth from which a key piece has been removed.

About creating dishonest strategies.

19. Sometimes we believe that people are lottery tickets: that they are there to make our absurd illusions come true.

This phrase by Carlos Ruiz addresses situations where people are a means and not an end.

20. Juanito only knows how to fart and the only thing they know is to laugh at them and inhale them. As you see, the social structure here is not very different from that of the outside world

This phrase is similar to another that says when it rains everyone gets wet, and that is that in some way the things that happen in the context are going to affect us.

21. Most of us have the happiness or misfortune of seeing how life falls apart little by little, without us realizing it.

This phrase by Carlos Ruiz speaks to us in relation to the time we remain in this world and the passing of time.

22. He who is very attached to a flock has some sheep in him

The spaces where we move, with which we identify and relate, speak about who we are.

23.

References:

, at least the good one, is a science with the blood of art. Like architecture or music

This phrase by Carlos Ruiz Zafón talks about his passion for literature

24. Nothing is fair. The most you can hope for is that it is logical. Justice is a rare disease in a world otherwise healthy as an oak

What is fair can have an individual view.

25. You don’t have to admit it if it jeopardizes your sense of masculinity. I know that you men believe that the size of your stubbornness corresponds to the size of your shame.

About the lack of freedom to show our humanity by living within a rule determined by being part of a so-called group.

26. As a general rule, the more talent you have, the more you doubt you have it. And vice versa

It is never enough when we are passionate about talent.

27. We spend most of our lives dreaming, especially when we are awake.

About dreams consciously built from our hearts.

28. The words with which a child’s heart is poisoned, due to meanness or ignorance, remain entrenched in the memory and sooner or later burn the soul.

This phrase from Carlos Ruiz refers to the consequences on a deeper level the one that affects our humanity.

29. Nothing happens by chance, deep down things have a secret plan, even if we don’t understand it.

You must be patient with the things that happen to us, we will learn some kind of learning.

30. If people thought a quarter of what they talk, this world would be a paradise

This phrase reminds us to use reason before issuing any type of opinion.

31. Dear Daniel, the sooner you realize this, the better: Nothing in this filthy life is worth two dollars if you don’t have someone to share it with

The value of money sometimes depends on the reason for which it is invested.

32. Hating is a talent that is learned over the years

This phrase by Carlos Ruiz Zafón addresses what we usually collect from experiences.

33. We all have a secret hidden under lock and key in the attic of our soul.

About the mysteries that govern our lives.

34. Don’t try to change the world, try not to let the world change you

We must try to maintain our essence and make it prevail.

35. The lyrics of the song are what we think we understand, but what makes us believe it or not is the music

Music is the engine of our emotions.

36. Gifts are given for the pleasure of the giver, not for the merit of the recipient.

The act of giving It includes putting a little time and energy into the satisfaction of the other.

37. I would like my last memory to be that of that sunrise on the beach and discovering that all this time has been nothing more than a long nightmare

About a desire founded on hopelessness.

38. You don’t learn anything important in life. It is simply remembered

All learning means an event.

39. Nothing deceives more than memories

Memories sometimes bring all the information of the context in which they occurred, but the circumstances in which they are evoked are never the same.

40. Time has taught me not to lose hope, but not to trust them too much, they are cruel and vain, without conscience

This phrase by Carlos Ruiz Zafón invites us to maintain hope.

41. The difficult thing is not just making money – he lamented -. The difficult thing is to earn it by doing something worth dedicating your life to.

A reflection on our motivations and dreams.

42. This world will not die of an atomic bomb as the newspapers say, it will die of laughter, of banality, making a joke of everything, and also a bad joke

This phrase by Carlos Ruiz Zafón brings us closer to the real cause of the problems of humanity

43. This is just the beginning. In ten years I will be the apprentice and you the master

In the learning process, evolution occurs constantly.

44. I smiled to myself. Even the worst news is a relief when it is nothing more than a confirmation of something one already knew without wanting to know it.

About maintaining a positive posture in the face of circumstances.

45. You don’t know what thirst is until you drink for the first time.

Experiences often create needs.

46. ​​Contemplating a future as wide and luminous as that avenue, and for a moment I thought that there were no more ghosts there than those of absence and loss, and that that light that smiled at me was borrowed and was only worth while I could sustain it with the look, second by second

This phrase from Carlos Ruiz talks about expectations.

47. And for lack of words, I bit my voice

What we keep silent harms us.

48. Time does to the body what stupidity does to the soul. rots it

Curious way of relating these elements.

49. Death has these things: it awakens feelings in everyone. In front of a coffin, we all see only the good, or what we want to see

This phrase is related to situations in which people only rescue the good values ​​that the person who dies had. They apply a kind of sanctity to it.

• Related article: “55 phrases about death and the afterlife”

50. By the time reason understands what happened, the wounds in the heart are already too deep.

And that is where the lessons are born.

51. Time heals everything, I thought, except the truth.

The truth transcends, we cannot escape from it.

52. People with small souls always try to make others smaller

This phrase by Carlos Ruiz Zafón tells us about petty relationships.

53. I know that you will wait for me and I know that I will recognize you among people, as I would recognize you even if a thousand years had passed. I’ve known it for a long time

Regarding how people project themselves onto others, it is as if they were already known before.

54. Does the madman know that he is mad? Or are the others, who insist on convincing him of his unreason to safeguard his existence as chimeras?

This phrase reflects on the madness of those who experience it.

55. Money doesn’t buy happiness, but everything else does

Happiness as a pure state but not as satisfaction of needs.

• You may be interested: “The 10 keys to being happy, according to science”

56. Talking is for fools, silence is for cowards and listening is for wise men.

About the art of listening.

57. And when he smiles it even seems to me that this filthy world has some future

This phrase by Carlo Ruiz Zafón is a reflection on the effect of illusion.

58. I leaned over her and ran the tip of my finger over the skin of her belly. Bea dropped her eyelids, her eyes, and smiled at me, confident and strong. She was seventeen years old and her life on her lips

The writer talks about romance.

59. The truth is not found, son. She finds one

About the power that truth exerts.

60. The only way to really know a writer is through the trail of ink he leaves, that the person you think you see is nothing more than a hollow character and that the truth is always hidden in fiction

Many of Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s phrases are directed at the relationship to the connection between the writer and the reader

61. Paris is the only city in the world where starving is still considered an art

Curious reflection by the author on this city that has inspired many artists.

62. They both wondered if it had been the cards that life had dealt them, or if it had been the way they had played them

About how mysterious some events are.

63. Women, with notable exceptions, are smarter than us, or at least more honest with themselves about what they want or don’t want. Another thing is whether they tell it to you or to the world. You face the enigma of nature. The female, babel and labyrinth. If you let her think, you’re lost. Remember: warm heart and cold mind. The seducer’s code

Reflection on your perception of feminine power.

64. Destiny does not make home visits, you have to go for it

You don’t have to wait for things to come.

65. The world is very small when you have nowhere to go

We expand that world when our projects increase.

66. When I die everything that is mine will be yours, except my dreams

Dreams carry our personal mark.

67. Let me buy you a glass of wine to toast our mistakes.

Phrase that is part of the book The game of the angel.

68. The future is not desired, it is deserved

What we build in the present in the future we will have as a reward.

69. It is a mistake to believe that dreams come true without offering anything in return.

Dreams are the result of constant work.

70. He who does not know where he is going does not get anywhere

You always have to have a port where you run aground.

71. But the opposite of what we expect always happens, doesn’t it?

Things don’t always happen as we plan.

72. When a loan debt is not paid off, interest must be paid. But that does not cancel the debt.

Some debts last a lifetime.

73. Time does not exist, that is why it should not be lost.

It is advisable to make the most of every hour and every minute.

74. Certain images from childhood remain recorded in the album of the mind like photographs, like scenarios to which, no matter how much time passes, one always returns and remembers.

The ability we humans have to treasure memories is amazing.

75. I wanted to see it finished exactly as I had dreamed of it. I wanted to be able to share it with the readers and for it to be what it had to be.

Zafón, about his most famous tetralogy.

76. Bad memories haunt you without having to carry them with you.

Some become heavy slabs that follow us wherever we go.

77. One thing that I have always wanted to do for years was to incorporate audiovisual narrative, the grammar of cinema, television and advertising into the traditional novel.

His novels are a true multisensory experience.

78. For any writer, anything that means surviving and not falling down the hole is big enough.

Zafón always acknowledged that he never saw his success coming.

79. These books were born as a tribute to literature and it seems to me that there is no need to try to transform them into something else to make them more popular.

Zafón has always refused to transfer his works to the big screen.

80. Painting is writing with light.

A beautiful allegory about painting.

81. Book fairs serve to prove that authors also walk and have legs.

He was always a great lover of literary fairs.

82. Defeats in silence taste better.

Sometimes we need time to digest them.

83. He didn’t ask questions, he machine-gunned them.

Zafón perfectly described the idiosyncrasies of all his characters.

84. The 20th century in Spain and throughout Europe is an enormously rich setting for any writer.

His best-known novels take place in Spain at the beginning of the century.

85. We all have a secret hidden under lock and key in the attic of our soul.

There we hide our most personal contents.

86. I have to confess that large crowds sometimes intimidate me.

Although he was a successful writer, he never lavished himself excessively in public places.

87. We only remember what never happened.

His work is full of truly poetic phrases.

88. I have been a huge fan of Stephen King since I was a child.

Just as many of us are of his work, Zafón idolized King since he was little.

89. I am from Barcelona and in my city the iconography of the dragon is present everywhere. Since I was a child I developed a sympathy with the dragon.

He always defined himself as a Barcelonan who loved his city.

90. John Williams gave me the first page of the original Star Wars score.

Throughout his life, he was able to meet several of his childhood idols.