Alejandro Zambra

“Se ama para dejar de amar y se deja de amar para empezar a amar a otros, o para quedarse solos, por un rato o para siempre. Ese es el dogma. El único dogma.”

“The novel belongs to our parents, I thought then, I think now. That's what we grew up believing, that the novel belonged to our parents. We cursed them, and also took refuge in their shadows, relieved. While the adults killed or were killed, we drew pictures in a corner. While the country was falling to pieces, we were learning to talk, to walk, to fold napkins in the shapes of boats, of airplanes. While the novel was happening, we played hide-and-seek, we played at disappearing.”

“To read is to cover one's face. And to write is to show it.”

“Pero quién no es, de vez en cuando, una mancha en la vida de alguien”

“¿Qué sentido tiene estar con alguien si no te cambia la vida? [...] la vida sólo tenía sentido si encontrabas a alguien que te la cambiara, que destruyera tu vida.”

“What's the purpose of being with someone if they don't change your life? She said that, and Julio was present when she said it: that life only had purpose if you found someone who changed it, who destroyed your life.”