The 100 best phrases (and reflections) of Arturo Pérez-Reverte
Arturo Pérez-Reverte is a writer and journalist of Spanish origin, whose work has been awarded and recognized worldwide, earning him a place in the Royal Spanish Academy. He began his career as a war news correspondent in nations with armed conflict, but he has also been recognized for his works: 'The adventures of captain Alatriste' and 'the trilogy of Falco'.
- We recommend you read: "The 75 best phrases of H. P. Lovecraft"
Best quotes and phrases of Arturo Pérez-Reverte
As a form of homage to his work and his work in the journalistic and literary field, we have brought a compilation with the best phrases of Arturo Pérez-Reverte.
1. Men often believe that the eyes of beautiful women have something in them, and they are often wrong.
Outer beauty is not always in tune with inner beauty.
2. It is a serious mistake to look at the past with the eyes of the present.
The past has its own experiences.
3. Everyone has the devil they deserve.
We all have something dark to hide.
4. No matter how much you win, there is always someone who defeats you in the end, there is always a Rocroi, no matter how much you win, there is always an iceberg waiting for the Titanic.
Failure is part of life.
5. History shows that the reason belongs to those who have the courage to support it.
You always have to fight when you're right.
6. The pleasantness of the places where one ends up depends, especially, on the people who work there and give it character.
It's nice to meet charming and interesting people.
7. He was not the most honest man or the most godly, but he was a brave man.
Bravery in a person is praiseworthy.
8. Books are doors that take you to the street, said Patricia. With them you learn, educate yourself, travel, dream, imagine, live other lives and multiply yours by a thousand.
Reading becomes an adventure without limits.
9. He was crossing the street when he realized that he didn't mind getting to the other side.
Life begins to make sense when we already have the courage to move on.
10. In the face of infamy it is vile to remain silent, and it is worthy to rebel and fight it.
It is great to fight and combat some offense or grievance.
11. Chance has a very bad milk and a lot of desire to joke.
The defeat or the triumph.
12. There are people who dream and remain still, and people who dream and make what they dream come true, or try.
Not only is it enough to dream, but to fight to make it a reality.
13. There was no choice but to play the game with the nine cards that mocking fate had just placed in his hands, even if they were lousy.
No matter the circumstances that life puts us, we always have to fight.
14. We humans have protected ourselves from that coldness, we have surrounded ourselves with a series of buffers, trying to survive physically and intellectually in the face of the fact that we are insects under the boot of the gods.
Man is great before God, although he looks for a way to make himself small.
15. Nothing happens, human beings have been dying for millions of years.
Death is the destiny that every human being has, no one escapes from it.
16. It is a good reminder: remember that you are mortal.
Sometimes we live in an unbridled way since we believe we are immortal.
17. I believe in old stones and dark paintings and reddish sunsets over the sea. And in young couples who kiss. And I believe in some other things that I will never tell you.
Life is full of beautiful things.
18. Rebellion is the only worthy refuge for intelligence against imbecility.
It is good to reveal ourselves to something that we do not like.
19. The only possible salvation lies in two words: education and culture.
Knowledge is fundamental, it makes the smallest great.
20. All inquisitions, without distinction, are based on the principle of denunciation and social cowardice.
Accusation and fear contribute to infamous acts.
21. Without culture (I mean true culture, education and lucidity) there is no possible future.
Without studies there is no future.
22. I always distrust those who don't have (or say they don't have) enemies. Walking is choosing. Choosing is risking. To risk is to fight.
There are always people around us who do not like us.
23. The language is based on many male chauvinist guidelines and must change.
In the world there are many ideas that harm women since society is very macho.
24. The old man is not contemporary because he is ridiculous or plays the clown, but on the other hand you have an advantage: a long life, an experience, a lucidity that the years give you... a look.
Old age has its charm.
25. Life is very treacherous.
Life is full of ups and downs.
26. I write novels to recreate life in my own way.
The stories narrated by novels are the realities of those who write them.
27. Always distrust your mercedes who is a reader of a single book.
That person who has only one way of thinking is worth distrusting.
28. The heroism of others is always extremely moving.
Fighting against atrocity is a matter of daring.
29. I believe that Spain should not apologize. Why? This is another Spain.
Asking for forgiveness is an action that very few do.
30. A terrible world and a beautiful world were mixed. It is a story that we can be horrified and proud of at the same time.
The world is a place where good and bad coexist with each other.
31. You never wondered how people without money see the world, right... How he opens his eyes every morning and faces life.
Although wealth can drive you crazy, it also helps you have a better life.
32. Paths that, despite the advice of the most elemental prudence, it is impossible to avoid when they are offered to the eye. When they tempt with answers to questions never asked before.
Although they warn us of something, we never pay attention.
33. Running away only serves to die tired and without honor.
Running away from problems is not the solution.
34. Every moment the counter resets to zero, and the human being has a wonderful gift: the opportunity to start, and try again.
Every day, every moment, is a new opportunity to start.
35. It is doubt that keeps people young. Certainty is like an evil virus. It infects you with old age.
Uncertainty makes things more exciting.
36. The heroes pass by our side without us noticing them. They sit on the terrace of a bar, hold on to the subway bar or stand in line at the unemployment office, like so many.
At all times there are heroes that we do not look at.
37. In a world where horror is sold as art, where art is born with the pretense of being photographed, where coexist with the images of suffering it has nothing to do with conscience or compassion, war photos are useless to any.
Suffering, dismay and fear, unfortunately, live in this world.
38. We take photos, not for the purpose of remembering, but to complete them later with the rest of our lives. That is why there are photos that are right and photos that are not.
We always want to live in the past.
39. Knowing history, its mechanisms of analysis, of understanding, gives you the wisdom of the board.
Knowing everything around us helps us understand life better.
40. I believe in several things.
People put our belief in several things at once.
41. There are people determined to build literary works, aqueducts or cathedrals with the intention of surviving. You are wrong.
Our memory lasts only when there are people who miss us.
42. No one who walks the world and has truly seen human beings in extreme situations can believe that human beings are homogeneous, white or black.
The man knows how to resist any situation no matter how difficult it may be.
43. When you have a certain track record, your readers, your listeners and viewers, the enemy is something else.
There are always times when happiness is not complete.
44. I have no ideology, my friend. What I have is a library.
Books are the best teachers.
45. A library is not a set of read books, but a company, a refuge and a life project.
Knowledge is acquired through books.
46. The Spanish is historically a son of a bitch.
A critique of the actions of some Spaniards.
47. Good enemies keep you awake.
It is good to be alert at all times.
48. Latin America in general hurts me and Mexico is one more manifestation than Colombia or Venezuela.
Latin America is going through difficult times and Arturo Pérez is aware of it.
49. Every era has its moment. And your people. Mine ended a long time ago, and I hate long endings. They lose manners.
Everything has its time.
50. In addition to caution and reserve, caution means cunning.
You have to be perceptive at all times.
51. But time passes, and it lasts. And there is a moment when everything stagnates. The days stop counting, hope fades...
There are days when everything looks black.
52. In the end they always defeat one.
Defeat is part of each one of us.
53. With men of integrity battles may be won, but kingdoms may not be ruled.
It refers to the corrupt governments that exist in the world.
54. Whoever kills from afar draws no lesson from life or death.
Many are forced to shoot to death within wars. Not because they want to.
55. With the gods, religion and Christianity dead, we have a new religion. We have changed humanism for humanitarianism, we are philanthropists.
The ability of human beings to feel affection, understanding and solidarity towards others. That is the true religion.
56. An enlightened idiot can be as dangerous as a hick whose intelligence doesn't help him to stop being one.
A person who believes he is superior because he has some knowledge, deep down, is not intelligent at all.
57. Without History there is no possibility of undertaking the present. You cannot move through the present, you cannot act in it.
We all have a story that precedes us.
58. Political opportunism already exists in the Constitution of Cádiz. It is devastating to see how the Spaniard repeats his mistakes, how he takes on whatever is put in front of him.
Man always trips over the same stone.
59. I was born in Cartagena, a city on the shores of the Mediterranean with more than three thousand years of history. And I was born in a library, in my grandfather's, where the stories of that sea are.
About his childhood and his first approach to the world of literature.
60. Independence in Latin American countries was a great fraud of which the most disadvantaged classes were victims.
In war, the victims are the ones who lose the most.
61. It is very easy to be a hero surrounded by people who cheer you on, the difficult thing is to be one alone, when the only witness is courage, honor, valor.
The recognition of others is nice, but sometimes ours is not.
62. I always recommend waiting.
Waiting is tiring and annoying, but it is the best option.
63. I have seen people who protected me in a war in the morning and burned houses and raped women at night.
There are people who act one way when they are by our side and another way when we turn our backs.
64. Everything is simpler: I write, I have a library and I browse. That is my life, it is enough for me and I have more than enough. Pretend universalities, transcendence, recognition...
It is important that what we do really pleases us.
65. I believe in those who all their lives try to think like Greeks, fight like Trojans and die like Romans.
Those who live their life to the fullest, are the ones worth knowing.
66. Who kills from afar does not test his arm or his heart or his consciousness, nor does he create ghosts that will later come at night, punctual to the appointment, for the rest of his life.
There are many ways to kill.
67. While there is death-he pointed out-there is hope. - Is it another date? - It's a bad joke.
Death is part of life.
68. Images that time puts in their place, attributing their true meaning to some, and denying others that turn off by themselves, just as if the colors were erased with time.
Memory is not eternal.
69. Here there were no guillotines for bishops, kings and aristocrats; Here they have always been shot and in the wrong way.
History shows that there was incredible impunity for the high-ranking and religious culprits.
70. Which proves a certainty of the old reporter: the dead are undoubtedly dead; but the living are not always what they seem.
Things always have two faces.
71. I believe that in today's world the only possible freedom is indifference. That is why I will continue to live with my saber and my horse.
Unfortunately, the indifference of the people is increasing.
72. Apathy and resignation are the national words.
Indifference and conformism are very frequent terms that people apply today.
73. There are instincts, curiosities that sometimes lose men and others make the ball fall into the appropriate slot on the roulette wheel.
A curious man can fall or succeed.
74. Forget with a good loser's face what was once, assume what is now, and accept what can never be.
Forget, assume and accept are words that we must include in our vocabulary.
75. I feel more at home than if I travel to Paris, for example, I am not at all patriotic, but for me, my nation is my language and my culture.
We must be proud of our nationality.
76. On that Sad Night, a world dies and another is born, that new America is born of brutality, since it is a bloody episode on both sides. It is the dawn of a new world, with the good and the bad.
Every day brings with it pleasant moments and others not so much.
77. The problem with words is that, once thrown, they cannot return to their owner by themselves. So sometimes they turn them on the point of a steel.
Be careful what you say, they are double-edged swords.
78. The man… believes he is a woman's lover, when in reality he is only her witness.
The man is just a doll in the hands of a woman.
79. I believe that defeat is something inherent to the human condition, to the fact of living and fighting.
Living and fighting in every moment is what makes life interesting.
80. Each one manages as he can to keep horror, sadness and loneliness at bay. I do it with my books.
Every person knows how to deal with his fears, melancholy and loneliness.
81. We are depriving the young of the experience of the old… we tend to push him away.
The elders have a wealth of anecdotes that the boys should listen to.
82. I work with language and I need the language to be clean, practical.
We must express ourselves correctly, that is a sign of education.
83. Not having (officially) enemies requires a lot of suction power. That also has its merit.
Oddly enough, there are people who have no enemies, that is worthy of admiration.
84. The uneducated peoples, especially the deliberately uneducated ones, have a problematic future.
A town without education, has a precarious course.
85. Because the bad thing is not always the fanatic. Worse are those who are not, but want to ingratiate themselves with him.
Fanaticism for something, if not handled well, can be negative.
86. The most effective ally of the scoundrels has always been the swarms of fools who do the dirty work. That make their job easier.
Do not do the work that corresponds to others.
87. We do not accept any virtue in the adversary, nor any defect in those of our side.
It is very difficult for us to recognize any quality in others, but if we are focused on recognizing their mistakes.
88. When a scholar dies, the rest advance one hanger until they reach the last one.
We are all going to die, that is the law of life.
89. I have seen many libraries burn, many cities bombed, and I have seen entire worlds go to hell with the push of a button. That has freed me from uncertainties and has given me security.
The war has never left anything good.
90. Even if it takes centuries, it will come down and take everything. So, every time we do something, this implies disaster.
The world is undergoing great disasters.
91. What a great paradox: one of those certainties is that it doesn't matter.
Being sure of something is not always the truth.
92. That's it... Then life spins its Russian roulette wheel. Nobody is responsible for anything.
Life is a continuous roulette, we don't know where it will stop.
93. Regarding dogs, no one who has not lived with them will ever fully know how far the words generosity, companionship and loyalty go.
Showing your love and respect for the dogs.
94. Proven for centuries: it is not tyrants who make slaves, but slaves who make tyrants.
If you let others think and act for you, then you will always be a slave.
95. There are times when one becomes ashamed of being a man.
There are situations that make us ashamed of who we are.
96. It's nice to be happy, she thought. And know it while you are.
Acknowledging our happiness helps us live better with ourselves.
97. No one should leave without leaving a burning Troy behind them.
Problems must be solved, there is always a solution.
98. I believe that we all die alone and blind. And that to do it with dignity a long training is required.
Nobody escapes death. Sooner or later it comes.
99. War is the normal state of man.
The human being is in constant war.
100. Girls who grow up fast have sad eyes.
You have to live every stage of life to the fullest.