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
Destiny doesn't do home visits... you have to go for it yourself.
Interpretation
What this quote means
You must take initiative to shape your own future.
This quote emphasizes the importance of personal responsibility and proactive effort in achieving one's goals. Carlos Ruiz ZafΓ³n reminds us that destiny or success will not come to us; rather, we must actively pursue our dreams and take the necessary steps to fulfill our potential.
Themes
DestinyMotivationInitiativeSuccessFuture
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech to inspire students to take charge of their careers.
More from Carlos Ruiz Zafon
All quotes βThe 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.
Carlos Ruiz ZafonRead
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.
Carlos Ruiz ZafonRead
We spend a good part of our lives dreaming, especially when we're awake.
Carlos Ruiz ZafonRead
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.
Carlos Ruiz ZafonRead
All interpretation or observation of reality is necessarily fiction. In this case, the problem is that man is a moral animal abandoned in an amoral universe and condemned to a finite existence with no other purpose than to perpetuate the natural cycle of the species. It is impossible to survive in a prolonged state of reality, at least for a human being. We spend a good part of our lives dreaming, especially when we're awake.
Carlos Ruiz ZafonRead
Similar quotes
I still bother with runners I call hamburgers. They're never going to run any record times. But they can fulfill their own potential.
Bill BowermanRead
I will commit not the terrible crime of aiming too low. I will do the work that a failure will not do. I will always let my reach exceed my grasp.
Og MandinoRead
I look at it as a challenge, ... I'm not going to put too much added pressure on myself. I want to play in the NHL, and after that [happens], I can worry about things beyond that.
Sidney CrosbyRead
If I used being busy as an excuse not to run, I'd never run again. I have only a few reasons to keep on running, and a truckload of them to quit.
Haruki MurakamiRead
Surround yourself with people who add the fuel of advice and encouragement to your fire.
Dave RamseyRead
I believe that we can, in a deliberate way, articulate the kind of people we want to become.
Clayton M. ChristensenRead