“One is never alone with a book nearby, don't you agree? Every page reminds us of a day that has passed and makes us relive the emotions that filled it. Happy hours underlined in red pencil, dark ones in black...”

“Never trust a man who reads only one book.”

“She had discovered with surprise and pleasure that as she turned each page, the book was written, as if for the first time, all over again.”

“he looked around at the books on the walls, at their dark, worn spines, and he seemed to hear a strange, distant murmur coming from them. each of the closed books was a door, and behind it stirred shadows, voices, sounds, heading toward him from a deep, dark place.”

“It was one of Diego Alatriste's virtues that he could make friends in Hell.”

“Actually loneliness has a kind of fascination; it's a state of egotistical, inner grace that you can achieve only by standing guard on old, forgotten roads that no one travels anymore.”

“But one never knows how the dice will fall, and they are always cast before anyone even notices.”