We had yet to learn that the Devil created youth so that we could make our mistakes, and that God established maturity and old age so that we could pay for them.
Carlos Ruiz ZafonRead
I hoped my absence made them happy or at least made them forget that they weren't happy and never will be.
Interpretation
This quote reflects on the impact of one's absence and the complexities of other people's happiness.
In this quote, Carlos Ruiz ZafΓ³n explores the bittersweet notion that sometimes our presence or absence can influence the emotional states of others. It suggests a deep understanding of the human condition, where the hope for another's happiness can be overshadowed by the reality that true happiness is a fleeting and elusive state, often obscured by underlying dissatisfaction.
In practice
This quote can be shared during a discussion about relationships and emotional well-being.
We had yet to learn that the Devil created youth so that we could make our mistakes, and that God established maturity and old age so that we could pay for them.
The haunting of history is ever present in Barcelona. I see cities as organisms, as living creatures. To me, Madrid is a man and Barcelona is a woman. And it's a woman who's extremely vain.
I think today will be the day. Today our luck will change,' I proclaimed on the wings of the first coffee of the day, pure optimism in a liquid state.
We spend a good part of our lives dreaming, especially when we're awake.
Destiny is usually just around the corner. Like a thief, a hooker, or a lottery vendor: its three most common personifications. But what destiny does not do is home visits. You have to go for it.
Destiny doesn't do home visits... you have to go for it yourself.
Magic enables man to carry out with confidence his important tasks, to maintain his poise and his mental integrity in fits of anger, in the throes of hate, of unrequited love, of despair and anxiety. The function of magic is to ritualize man's optimism, to enhance his faith in the victory of hope over fear. Magic expresses the greater value for man of confidence over doubt, of steadfastness over vacillation, of optimism over pessimism.
I am never bored; to be bored is an insult to one's self.
Let me but find it in my heart to say, When vagrant wishes beckon me astray, "This is my work; my blessing, not my doom; Of all who live, I am the one by whom This work can best be done in the right way."
With fools, there is no companionship. Rather than to live with men who are selfish, vain, quarrelsome, and obstinate, let a man walk alone.
Dream tonight of peacock tails, Diamond fields and spouter whales. Ills are many, blessing few, But dreams tonight will shelter you.
It's not enough to be nice in life. You've got to have nerve.
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