Aureliano not only understood by then, he also lived his brother’s experiences as something of his own, for on one occasion when the latter was explaining in great detail the mechanism of love, he interrupted him to ask: “What does it feel like?” José Arcadio gave an immediate reply: “It’s like an earthquake.

One of the most difficult things is the first paragraph. I have spent many months on a first paragraph, and once I get it, the rest just comes out very easily.

A man should have two wives: one to love and one to sew on his buttons.

the bells of glory that announced to the world the good news that the uncountable time of eternity had come to an end

Gaston was not only a fierce lover, with endless wisdom and imagination, but he was also, perhaps, the first man in the history of the species who had made an emergency landing and had come close to killing himself and his sweetheart simply to make love in a field of violets.

I don't believe in God, but I'm afraid of Him.

It is not true that people stop pursuing dreams because they grow old, they grow old because they stop pursuing dreams.