“I have seen émigrés with the humility typical of concentration camp survivors come to this country and happily accept anything that afforded a livelihood, the most demeaning jobs. But is it not rather strange that a man cannot be content with having escaped torture and death? As soon as he begins to enjoy his new security, the pride and vanity and arrogance that seemed to have been permanently obliterated begin to creep back, like beasts driven into hiding – but showing themselves with greater insolence, as if in reaction to the shame of having fallen so low. It is not rare in such circumstances to witness ingratitude and lack of appreciation.”

“Only those capable of envisaging utopia will be fit for the decisive battle, that of recovering all the humanity we have lost. ”

“I am seeing that woman for the first and last time. I will never in my lifetime see her again.’ My thoughts floated aimlessly, like a cork down an uncharted river. For a moment they bobbed around the woman beneath the thatch. What did she matter to me? But I could not rid myself of the thought that, for an instant, she was a part of my life that would never be repeated; from my point of view it was as if she were already dead: a brief delay of the train, a call from inside the house, and that woman would never have existed in my life.Everything seemed fleeting, transitory, futile, nebulous. My brain was not functioning well, but María was a recurring vision, something hazy and melancholy.”

“Greatness is so aggressive, so dramatic! Don't you think it is almost bad manners?”

“The expression 'there is nothing like the good old days' does not mean that fewer bad things happened before, but fortunately, that people tend to forget about them.”

“¡Ah, y sin embargo te maté! Y he sido yo quien te ha matado, yo, que veía como a través de un muro de vidrio, sin poder tocarlo, tu rostro mudo y ansioso. ¡Yo, tan estúpido, tan ciego, tan egoísta, tan cruel!”

“Tambien los grandes carnavales de otros tiempos eran como un vómito colectivo, algo esencialmente sano, algo que los dejaba de nuevo aptos para soportar la vida, para sobrellevar la existencia y hasta he llegado a pensar que si Dios existe está enmascarado”