“chaos: it has no plural.”

“Artemio Cruz...nombre..."inútil"..."corazón"..."masaje"..."inutil"...ya no sabrás...te traje adentro y moriré contigo...los tres...moriremos...Tú...mueres..has muerto...moriré”

“The contract between the author and the reader is a game. And the game . . . is one of the greatest invetions of Western civilization: the game of telling stories, inventing characters, and creating the imaginary paradise of the individual, from whence no one can be expelled because, in a novel, no one owns the truth and everyone has the right to be heard and understood.”

“She begins to feel that the reality show is the university she never attended. Vicarious reality. Emotion without a value-added tax. Movement without danger. Alma finds her reality. She no longer has a reason to put herself at risk and go out into the hostile, degrading world.”

“You, yesterday, did the usual things, just as any day, You don't know if it's worth remembering. You would prefer to remember, there lying in the half-darkness of the bedroom, not what has happened already but what is going to happen. In your half-darkness your eyes would prefer to look ahead, not behind, and they do not know how to foresee the past.”

“Al fin, podrás ver esos ojos de mar que fluyen, se hacen espuma, vuelven a la calma verde, vuelven a inflamarse como una ola: tu los ves y te repites que no es cierto, que son unos ojos hermosos verdes idénticos a todos los hermosos ojos verdes que has conocido o podrás conocer.”

“-Sí; ¿por qué te has de sacrificar así?-¿Quererla? Ella me quiere a mí. Ella me sacrifica por mí.- Pero es una mujer vieja, casi un cadáver; tu no puedes...- Ella tiene más vida que yo. Sí, es vieja, es repulsiva...Felipe, no quiero volver...no quiere ser como ella...otra...- Trata de enterrarte en vida. Tienes que renacer, Aura...- Hay que morir antes de renacer...No. No entiendes. Olvida, Felipe; ténme confianza.”