Spanish novelist (1964- )
I stepped into the bookshop and breathed in that perfume of paper and magic that strangely no one had ever thought of bottling.
CARLOS RUIZ ZAFON
The Angel's Game
People talk too much. Humans aren't descended from monkeys. They come from parrots.
CARLOS RUIZ ZAFON
The Shadow of the Wind
One never forgets faces one wholeheartedly detests.
CARLOS RUIZ ZAFON
The Prisoner of Heaven
It's only worth staying in bed if you're young and in good company.
CARLOS RUIZ ZAFON
The Angel's Game
You know, not every good book needs to be a movie, or a television series, or a video game. There's great work in those mediums, of course, but sometimes a book should remain a book. I still believe nothing tells a story with the richness and complexity of a good novel. When people say they think a book would make a good movie, they say this sometimes because, if it worked, they already saw all the images in the movie theatre that is in their brains. And sometimes that is the way it should stay.
CARLOS RUIZ ZAFON
"Carlos Ruiz Zafon's love letter to literature", New Zealand Listener, Mar. 14, 2013
In small towns, news travels at the speed of boredom.
CARLOS RUIZ ZAFON
attributed, Identifying, Treating, and Preventing Childhood Trauma in Rural Communities
For some reason, I never felt the need to have kids. My wife feels the same. We don't feel a void. I don't think they would give my life meaning. I do think of the books as my children, though. Whatever is inside of me, I put into my books.
CARLOS RUIZ ZAFON
"The Shadow Maker", The Telegraph, Nov. 27, 2005
Blaming TV as an abstract entity is nonsensical. It's our hand on the remote. There's a world out there outside the tube.
CARLOS RUIZ ZAFON
"An interview with Carlos Ruiz Zafon", Book Browse
There are worse prisons than words.
CARLOS RUIZ ZAFON
The Shadow of the Wind
She was seventeen, her entire life shining on her lips.
CARLOS RUIZ ZAFON
The Shadow of the Wind
Money is like any other virus: once it has rotted the soul of the person who houses it, it sets off in search of new blood.
CARLOS RUIZ ZAFON
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 ZAFON
The Shadow of the Wind
Never trust girls who let themselves be touched right away. But even less those who need a priest for approval.
CARLOS RUIZ ZAFON
The Shadow of the Wind
I am a night creature, and I write from midnight till dawn, secluded in my office and surrounded by my collection of dragons (I have 400 of them). I only use Macintosh computers, which I name in dynastic order. Right now I'm using MacDragon 5. Only the devil is able to decipher my handwriting.
CARLOS RUIZ ZAFON
"Meet the Writers: Carlos Ruiz Zafon", Barnes & Noble
When everyone is determined to present someone as a monster, there are two possibilities: either he's a saint or they themselves are not telling the whole story.
CARLOS RUIZ ZAFON
The Shadow of the Wind
It's the student who makes the teacher, not the other way around.
CARLOS RUIZ ZAFON
The Angel's Game
In Barcelona, the Mediterranean storms come up from the sea, thunder and lightning, it's like the end of the world.
CARLOS RUIZ ZAFON
"Interview: Carlos Ruiz Zafon", The Scotsman, Jun. 13, 2010
Nothing is fair. The most one can hope is for things to be logical.
CARLOS RUIZ ZAFON
The Angel's Game
A good liar knows that the most efficient lie is always a truth that has had a key piece removed from it.
CARLOS RUIZ ZAFON
The Prisoner of Heaven
You know who your true friends are when things go wrong for you, but the opposite is also true. When things go well, the people who really love you are happy.
CARLOS RUIZ ZAFON
"The Shadow Maker", The Telegraph, Nov. 27, 2005