“To be happy does not mean to indulge in foolishness!”

“One only dies once, and if one does not die well, a good opportunity is lost and will not present itself again.”

“For myself I think that one wrong does not right the other, and forgiveness cannot be won with useless tears or alms to the Church.”

“He who does not know how to look back at where he came from will never get to his destination.”

“The glory of saving a country doesn't mean having to use the measures that contributed to its ruin!”

“What was exchanged in the language of their eyes, more perfect than their lips, the language afforded the soul so that no sound disturbs an ecstasy of feeling? In those moments, when the thought of the two happy beings meld through their pupils, words move slowly, coarsely, like the raspy, awkward noise of thunder from dazzling light that appears after the quickness of the flash. It expresses feelings previously known, ideas yet understood, and in the end, if one must use words, it is because the heart’s ambitions—which dominates one’s whole being and overflows with happiness—wishes with the whole human organism, with all its physical and psychical faculties, to embody the poem of joy that the spirit has intoned. Language has no answer to the questions of love that either shimmer or hide within a glance. The smile must respond; the kiss, the sigh.”

“How long have you been away from the country?" Laruja asked Ibarra."Almost seven years.""Then you have probably forgotten all about it.""Quite the contrary. Even if my country does seem to have forgotten me, I have always thought about it.”