The secret to happiness, at least to peace of mind, is knowing how to separate sex from love. And, if possible, eliminating romantic love from your life, which is the love that makes you suffer. That way, I assure you, you live with greater tranquility and enjoy things more.

If you are killed because you are a writer, that's the maximum expression of respect, you know.

I couldn't imagine any other way of living, outside of books, outside my work. Which doesn't mean I am not interested in other things, of course - I am interested in many things. But the center, the crux, is always literature.

I was very young and lived with my grandparents in a villa with white walls in the Calle Ocharan, in Miraflores.

Like writing, reading is a protest against the insufficiencies of life.

There is an incompatibility between literary creation and political activity.

The truths that seem most truthful, if you look at them from all sides, if you look at them close up, turn out to be either half truths or lies.