Quotes from Isabel Allende

Recently, a busload of us tourists crossing the border between Chile and Argentina had to wait an hour and a half while our documents were checked. Getting through the Berlin Wall was easier. Kafka was Chilean.

I am no longer tormented by an excess of discipline, as I was before.

We spent a good part of the twentieth century trying out various forms of revolution, from Marxism to savage capitalism, ranging through each and every intermediate shading. Our hope that a change in government can improve our luck is like hoping to win the lottery: totally without rational foundation.

The road of gluttony leads straight to lust and, if traveled a little farther, to the loss of one's soul.

I never forget that a book is not an end in itself. Just like a newspaper or a magazine, a book is a means of communication, which is why I try to grab the reader by the throat and not let go to the end. I don't always succeed, of course; readers tend to be elusive. Who is my reader?

He had the intellectual capacity of a louse, but shone in cooking up new ways to be cruel.

I do not fear my vulnerability because I no longer confuse it with weakness.

Irina could not imagine the courage it took to grow old without becoming too frightened; her knowledge of age

I like fabrics, colors, makeup, and the routine of putting myself together every morning, even though I spend most of my time locked away in the attic writing. "No one sees me, but I see myself," my mother would comment philosophically

I want to transform rage into creative energy and guilt into a mocking acceptance of my faults; I want to sweep away arrogance and vanity.

This is to assuage our conscience, darling," she would explain to Blanca. "But it doesn't help the poor.

Lucia argued something similar. She gave as an example the Chihuahua, Marcelo, who lived eternally grateful in the present, accepting whatever might happen without worrying about any future misfortune that might add to all those he had previously encountered in his life as an abandoned dog. "Too