[The captain] looked at Florentino Ariza, his invincible power, his intrepid love and was overwhelmed by the belated suspicion that it is life, more than death, that has no limits.

Life had already given him sufficient reasons for knowing that no defeat was the final one.

Ah, me, if this is love, then how it torments.

It was inevitable: the scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love.

Morality, too, is a question of time.

Little by little, studying the infinite possibilities of a loss of memory, he realized that the day might come when things would be recognized by their inscriptions but that no one would remember their use.... At the beginning of the road into the swamp they put up a sign that said "Macondo" and another larger one on the main street that said "God exists".

I'll never fall in love again... it's like having two souls at the same time.