Quotes by Pedro Antonio de Alarcón

“We have a long distance to travel,' said the Angel of Death to our friend Gil, as soon as they had left the Villa. 'I will order my chariot.' And he struck the ground with his foot. A hollow rumbling, like that which precedes an earthquake, sounded under the ground. Presently there rose round the two friends an ash-colored cloud of vapor, in the midst of which appeared a species of ivory chariot, resembling the chariots we see in the bas-reliefs of antiquity.A brief glance would have sufficed (we will not disguise the fact from out readers) to show that the chariot was not made of ivory, but solely and simply of human bones polished and joined together with exquisite skill, but retaining still their natural form.The Angel of Death gave his hand to Gil and they ascended the chariot, which rose into the air like the balloons of the present day, but with the difference that it was propelled by the will of its occupants. ("The Friend of Death")””

“El ladrón y el asesino… de mi honra está en mi casa acostado con mi mujer””

“When they had ended their prayers, the Angel of Death recovered his loquacity and his gayety and ascending the chariot again, preceded by Gil Gil, spoke as follows. 'The village you see on that mountain is Gethsemane. In it was the Garden of Olives. On the other side you can distinguish an eminence crowned by a temple which stands out against a starry sky - that is Golgotha. There I passed the greatest day of my existence. I thought I had vanquished God himself - and vanquished he was for some hours. But, alas! on that mount, too, it was that three days later I saw myself disarmed and my power brought to naught on the morning of a certain Sunday. Jesus had risen from the dead. There, too, took place on the same occasion my great single combat with Nature. There took place my duel with her, that terrible duel (at the third hour of the day, I remember it well), when, as soon as she saw me thrust the lance of Longinus in the breast of the Saviour she began to throw stones at me, to upturn the cemeteries, to bring the dead to life, and I know not what besides. I thought poor Nature had lost her senses.' The Angel of Death seemed to reflect for a moment... ("The Friend of Death")””

“¡Hay un nunca, un implacable nunca entre la felicidad y nosotros dos!””

“¡Digámoslo francamente! El hombre sólo ama la estúpida belleza, y la belleza no ama jamás.””

“At the side of every living city, town, or hamlet, there is always a dead city or town, as the shadow is always beside the body. Geography, therefore, is always double, although you speak only of that which appears most agreeable. To make a map of all the cemeteries upon earth would suffice to explain the political geography of thy world.””

“I cannot see why all men are not friends below.The identity of your weaknesses and misfortunes, the need that you have one for another, the shortness of your lives, the spectacle of the infinite greatness of the spheres, and the comparison of these with your own littleness, all ought to unite you fraternally, as voyagers threatened with shipwreck.””

“maginaos una total ausencia de calor: una negación completa de vida; la cesación absoluta de todo movimiento; la muerte como forma del ser, y aún no habréis formado idea exacta de aquel mundo cadáver...; o más que cadáver, puesto que no se corrompía ni se transfiguraba, y no daba, por consiguiente, pasto a los gusanos, ni abono a las plantas, ni elementos a los minerales, ni gases a la atmósfera. Era el caos sin el embrión del universo; era la nada bajo la apariencia de hielos seculares.””

“Y rompió a berrear tristemente abrazado a la barriga del señor Juan López.””

“Cruzaron, pues, sendas miradas de paz y de indulgencia aquellas dos mujeres que se consideraban dos veces rivales, y notaron con gran sorpresa que sus almas se aplacieron la una en la otra, como dos hermanas que se reconocen.””

“Pero ¿a qué estas notas lúgubres en una tonadilla alegre? ¿A qué estos relámpagos fatídicos en una atmósfera tan serena? ¿A qué estas actitudes melodramáticas en un cuadro de género?””

“¡Tu dixisti!...Excusatio non petita, accusatio manifesta. -- Qualis vir, talis oratio.””

“I do not remember the number, but it was near the Carrera de San Jeronimo.””

“¡Yo no hago sufrir a nadie! Quien os atormenta hasta que dais el último suspiro es mi rival la Vida, ¡esa vida que tanto amáis!””

“Era una de esas tristísimas tardes en que parece que hasta los relojes tocan a muerto; en que el cielo está cubierto de nubes y la tierra de lodo; en que el aire, húmedo y macilento, ahoga los suspiros dentro del corazón del hombre; en que todos los pobres sienten hambre, todos los huérfanos frío y todos los desdichados envidia a los que ya murieron.””