Perez Reverte Quotes

I once wrestled with an angel. He won, but I learned a few things.

...the miser is counting his gold pieces, unaware of Death, who holds two clear symbols: an hourglass and a pitchfork." "Why a pitchfork and not a scythe?" "Because Death reaps but the Devil harvests

The pistol is not a weapon, it is an impertinence.

He was not the most honest or pious of men, but he was courageous

Una biblioteca no es un conjunto de libros leídos, sino una compañía, un refugio y un proyecto de vida.

You can do everything right, strictly according to procedure, on the ocean, and it'll still kill you, but if you're a good navigator, at least you'll know where you were when you died. (In "The Nautical Chart" by Arturo Perez-Reverte)

He was laughing under his breath, like a cruel wolf, as he leaned over to light his last cigarette. Books play that kind of trick, he thought. And everyone gets the devil he deserves.

-¿Y vos? -Yo soy cosa mía.

But he was calm, like a hunter who is sure that he will catch his prey in the end, however confusing the trial.

la Armada Invencible; ya saben, cañonazo va y ola viene y todo a tomar por saco, con aquel pulso fatal entre nuestro buen Rey Don Felipe Segundo y esa arpía pelirroja que se llamó Isabel de Inglaterra, amparo de protestantes, hideputas y piratas, más conocida por la Reina Virgen, aunque maldito si puede uno imaginarse virgen de qué

Y que la vida es larga, hasta que deja de serlo

cada uno a su casa y Dios a la de todos

But that is the way of life, and that was but one of the first times, among no few to come, that I was taught a useful lesson about how appearances trump truth, and how villains hide their vices behind masks of piety, honour, and decency. And that to denounce evildoers without proof, attack them with weapons, trust blindly in reason or justice, is often the fastest road toward one's own perdition, while the scoundrels who use influence or money as a shield remained untouched.

The term stray refers to dogs and cats, animals traditionally viewed as pet animals, that are homeless and thus devoid of human companionship and protection. Stray animals are often perceived by individual residents as “pests” and by societal officials (specifically with respect to municipal and county animal control policies) as “nuisance animals/throwaways,” especially in the context of disease control (rabies, etc.). They are particularly vulnerable to the vagaries of existence on the street and are viewed by many people as being throwaway animals; millions of them are destroyed at animal shelters and animal control facilities in the United States each year. Four of the five violent subjects who reported acts of cruelty against stray animals reported frequent acts. Stray animals, genetically coded to bond and coexist with humans, may by necessity revert to feral (or wild) behavior, but they are not wild animals. As a result, they often seek the company of humans for food and shelter. The trust that they frequently display toward humans can be dangerous. Some of the most horrific reports of animal cruelty either committed or observed by the subjects in this study involved stray animals. These reports included exploding animals by inserting fireworks into the animal’s mouth or anus, using “Crazy Glue” to glue the paws of kittens and puppies to the middle of streets and then watching the animals be killed by passing cars, throwing stray animals to their death from rooftops, and setting animals on fire after drenching them in gasoline. Stray animals who are victims of cruelty can be analogized to the victims of serial killers, such as prostitutes and runaway juveniles; their deaths are often unseen and unknown by the average citizen until the remains are found.

What a lousy world, even Lucifer has to resort to the small print.

de curiosos están los camposantos llenos