The children would remember for the rest of their lives the august solemnity with which their father, devastated by his prolonged vigil and by the wraith of his imagination, revealed his discovery to them: 'The world is round, like an orange.

It was also her nature that caused her letters to avoid emotional pitfalls and confine themselves to relating the events of her daily life in the utilitarian style of a ship's log. In reality they were distracted letters, intended to keep the coals alive without putting her hand in the fire, while Florentino Ariza burned himself alive in every line.

She wanted to be herself again, to recover all that she had been obliged to give up in half a century of servitude that had doubtless made her happy but which, once her husband was dead, did not leave her even the vestiges of her identity.

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

She discovered with great delight that one does not love one's children just because they are one's children but because of the friendship formed while raising them.

The secret of a good old age is simply an honorable pact with solitude.

The only Virgos left in the world are people like you who were born in August.