52 Quotes by Javier Marias

Listening is the most dangerous thing of all, listening means knowing, finding out about something and knowing what’s going on, our ears don’t have lids that can instinctively close against the words uttered, they can’t hide from what they sense they’re about to hear, it’s always too late.

Es curioso cómo el pensamiento incurre en lo inverosímil, cómo se lo permite momentáneamente, cómo fantasea o se hace supersticioso para descansar un rato o encontrar alivio, cómo es capaz de negar los hechos y hacer que retroceda el tiempo, aunque sea un instante. Cómo se parece al sueño.

Se dio cuenta de que ya había decidido, pero prefería no reconocerlo aún en voz alta, prefería guardárselo unos segundos y mantenerlo sólo en su pensamiento, todavía puede uno echarse atrás mientras calla.

there are so many unpunished crimes in the world; indeed, they cover an area so vast, so ancient, so broad and wide that, up to a point, what do we care if a millimetre more is added to it?

Some people think that being in love or infatuated is a modern invention that appears only in novels. Be that as it may, it nevertheless exists, the invention, the word, and our capacity for such a feeling.

The soldier doesn’t usually act on his own initiative, he doesn’t harbour feelings of hatred or resentment or jealousy, he isn’t motivated by long-held desires or personal ambition; the only motivating force is a vague, rhetorical, empty patriotism, for those soldiers, that is, who are moved by such feelings or allow themselves to be convinced.

Raccontare è quasi sempre un regalo, compreso quando porta e inietta veleno il racconto è anche un vincolo e un concedere fiducia e rara è la fiducia che prima o poi non si tradisca, raro il vincolo che non si aggrovigli o non si annodi, e perciò finisca per stringere e si debba tirare di coltello e di lama per reciderlo.

The ones who most shape the world are those who are not exposed, who can't be seen; unknown, opaque beings about whom almost no one knows anything. Like the hidden man in the story, except that instead of living a passive vegetable existence, they plot and weave webs in the shadows.

So who does shape the world, then? Who is in a position to do that?