The most important thing Paris gave me was a perspective on Latin America. It taught me the differences between Latin America and Europe and among the Latin American countries themselves through the Latins I met there.

[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.

He was weary of the uncertainty of the vicious circle of that eternal war that always found him in the same place, but always older, wearier, even more in the position of not knowing why, or how, or even when.

Once again she shuddered with the evidence that time was not passing, as she had just admitted, but that it was turning in a circle.

The rain would not have bothered Fernanda, after all, her whole life had been spent as if it were raining.

Ultimately, literature is nothing but carpentry.

Why were you so old when we met? I answered with the truth: Age isn't how old you are but how old you feel.