13 Quotes by Héctor Tobar

Maybe innocence is a skin you must shed to build layers more resistant to the caustic truths of the world.

She would speak her story in Spanish and la señora Maureen would tell hers in English; it was obvious to her that the two languages did not carry equal weight.

He is trapped underground, suddenly and unexpectedly close to death, but still in control of his fate. "At that moment I put death in my head and decided I would live with it," he says later.

Divorce was illegal in Chile up until 2005 or so.

I come from a family of working people. My parents were Guatemalan immigrants who spent most of their lives in the service industry.

I spent my whole life as a writer talking to just the average guy in Los Angeles and Latin America, talking to working people.

I've never been on a paperback tour before, you know, because usually you go on tour when a hardcover comes out.

You cannot bribe a Chilean police officer - I know this firsthand.

As a professional journalist, I've been interviewing people for almost thirty years. And the one thing I've learned from all those interviews is that I am always going to be surprised.