Quotes from book
The Shadow of the Wind

The Shadow of the Wind

Carlos Ruiz ZafónOriginal title La sombra del viento (Spanish, 2001)

The Shadow of the Wind is a 2001 novel by the Spanish writer Carlos Ruiz Zafón and a worldwide bestseller. The book was translated into English in 2004 by Lucia Graves and sold over a million copies in the UK after already achieving success on mainland Europe, topping the Spanish bestseller lists for weeks. It was published in the United States by Penguin Books and in Great Britain by Weidenfeld & Nicolson and Orion Books. It is believed to have sold 15 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling books of all time.

“In those days I learned that nothing is more frightening than a hero who lives to tell his story, to tell what all those who fell at his side will never be able to tell.”

Carlos Ruiz Zafón book The Shadow of the Wind

Source: The Shadow of the Wind

“Never trust he who trusts everyone.”

Carlos Ruiz Zafón book The Shadow of the Wind

Source: The Shadow of the Wind

“Our world will not die as the result of the bomb, as the papers say, it will die of laughter, of banality, or making a joke of everything, and a lousy joke at that.”

Carlos Ruiz Zafón book The Shadow of the Wind

Source: The Shadow of the Wind

“Perhaps for that very reason, I adored her all the more, because of the eternal human stupidity of pursuing those who hurt us the most.”

Carlos Ruiz Zafón book The Shadow of the Wind

Source: The Shadow of the Wind

“One loves truly only once in a lifetime, Julian, even if one isn’t aware of it.”

Carlos Ruiz Zafón book The Shadow of the Wind

Source: The Shadow of the Wind

“It’s a story of love, of hatred, and of the dreams that live in the shadow of the wind.”

Carlos Ruiz Zafón book The Shadow of the Wind

Source: The Shadow of the Wind

“Most of us have the good or bad fortune of seeing our lives fall apart so slowly we barely notice.”

Carlos Ruiz Zafón book The Shadow of the Wind

Source: The Shadow of the Wind

“There are no second chances in life, except to feel remorse.”

Carlos Ruiz Zafón book The Shadow of the Wind

Source: The Shadow of the Wind

“If you really want to possess a woman, you must think like her, and the first thing to do is win over her soul. The rest, that sweet, soft wrapping that steals away your senses and your virtue, is a bonus.”

Carlos Ruiz Zafón book The Shadow of the Wind

Source: The Shadow of the Wind

“Few things leave a deeper mark on a reader than the first book that finds its way into his heart. Those first images, the echo of words we think we have left behind, accompany us throughout our lives and sculpt a palace in our memory to which, sooner or later--no matter how many books we read, how many worlds we discover or how much we learn or forget--we will return.”

Carlos Ruiz Zafón book The Shadow of the Wind

Source: La sombra del viento (The Shadow of the Wind) (2001)

“One of the pitfalls of childhood is that one doesn't have to understand something to feel it. By the time the mind is able to comprehend what has happened, the wounds of the heart are already too deep.”

Carlos Ruiz Zafón book The Shadow of the Wind

Source: The Shadow of the Wind

“Time goes faster the more hollow it is. Lives with no meaning go straight past you, like trains that don’t stop at your station.”

Carlos Ruiz Zafón book The Shadow of the Wind

Source: The Shadow of the Wind

“There's no such thing as dead languages, only dormant minds.”

Carlos Ruiz Zafón book The Shadow of the Wind

Source: La sombra del viento (The Shadow of the Wind) (2001)

Carlos Ruiz Zafón quote: “To truly hate is an art one learns with time.”

“To truly hate is an art one learns with time.”

Carlos Ruiz Zafón book The Shadow of the Wind

Source: The Shadow of the Wind

“I could tell you it's the heart, but what is really killing him is loneliness. Memories are worse than bullets.”

Carlos Ruiz Zafón book The Shadow of the Wind

Source: The Shadow of the Wind

“that as long as we are being remembered, we remain alive.”

Carlos Ruiz Zafón book The Shadow of the Wind

Variant: So long as we are being remembered, we remain alive.
Source: The Shadow of the Wind

“Sometimes we think people are like lottery tickets, that they're there to make our most absurd dreams come true.”

Carlos Ruiz Zafón book The Shadow of the Wind

Source: The Shadow of the Wind

“I was raised among books, making invisible friends in pages that seemed cast from dust and whose smell I carry on my hands to this day.”

Carlos Ruiz Zafón book The Shadow of the Wind

Source: The Shadow of the Wind

“Presents are made for the pleasure of who gives them, not the merits of who receives them.”

Carlos Ruiz Zafón book The Shadow of the Wind

Source: The Shadow of the Wind

“But in good time you'll see that sometimes what matters isn't what one gives but what one gives up.”

Carlos Ruiz Zafón book The Shadow of the Wind

Source: The Shadow of the Wind

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