I must warn you that the books I like are not necessarily the ones I think are the best. I like them for various reasons not always easy to explain.

Sex is one's consolation when love is not enough

Life in the world... was nothing more than a system of atavistic contracts, banal ceremonies, preordained words, with which people entertained each other in society in order not to commit murder. The dominant sign in that paradise of provincial frivolity was fear of the unknown.

Everyone has three lives: a public life, a private life, and a secret life.

I would not have traded the delights of my suffering for anything in the world.

El mundo habrá acabado de joderse -dijo entonces- el día en que los hombres viajen en primera clase y la literatura en el vagón de carga.

I think that the idea that I'm writing for many more people than I ever imagined has created a certain general responsibility that is literary and political. There's even pride involved, in not wanting to fall short of what I did before.