Top 15 Javier Marías Quotes

Never dismiss ideas born of the imagination, Jack, you only get to them after much thought, much reflection and study, and considerable boldness.

No desdeñes nunca las ideas imaginativas, Jack, a ellas se llega sólo después de mucho pensamiento, de mucha reflexión y mucho estudio, y de notable atrevimiento.

He had an ability to surprise, as does every major idiot, and, of course, to irritate, all in the space of a single second.

Tenía capacidad para sorprender, como todos los imbéciles mayúsculos, y por supuesto para irritar de nuevo en un solo segundo.

...and a little later comes the question that no one asks before acting or before speaking: 'Do I dare disturb the universe?', because everyone dares to do just that, to disturb the universe and to trouble it, with their small, quick tongues and their ill-intentioned steps.

...y un poco más tarde viene la pregunta que nadie se hace antes de obrar ni antes de hablar: ‘Do I dare disturb the universe?’, porque todo el mundo se atreve a ello, a turbar el universo y a molestarlo, con sus rápidas y pequeñas lenguas y con sus mezquinos pasos.

Everything persists and continues on its own, even if you yourself decide to withdraw.

Todo insiste y continúa solo, aunque opte uno por retirarse.

...she kept her arm raised and thus allowed me to observe her armpit, and when a naked woman allows you to do that, uncovering one or both, it's as if she were offering up to you an additional nakedness.

...al mantener el brazo en alto me permitió contemplar su axila, y cuando una mujer desnuda permite ver eso, y descubre una o ambas, es como si ofreciera un suplemento de desnudez con ello.

Lies are lies, but all lies have their moment to be believed.

Las mentiras son las mentiras, pero todo tiene su tiempo para ser creído.

We tend to be incredibly distrustful of our own perceptions once they have passed and find no outside confirmation or ratification, we sometimes renounce our memory and end up telling ourselves inexact versions of what we witnessed, we do not trust ourselves as witnesses.

Tendemos a desconfiar increíblemente de nuestras percepciones cuando ya son pasado y no se ven confirmadas ni ratificadas desde fuera por nadie, renegamos de nuestra memoria a veces y acabamos por contarnos inexactas versiones de lo que presenciamos, no nos fiamos como testigos ni de nosotros mismos.

Sometimes it's impossible to explain the really important things, those that have affected us most deeply, and keeping silent is all that saves us in difficult times, because explanations almost always sound so lame with respect to the pain we have inflicted or that others have inflicted on us.