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
After a while it occurred to me that between the covers of each of those books lay a boundless universe waiting to be discovered while beyond those walls, in the outside world, people allowed life to pass by in afternoons of football and radio soaps, content to do little more than gaze at their navels.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the vast knowledge and experiences found in books, contrasting it with a passive approach to life.
Carlos Ruiz Zafón reflects on the contrast between the enriching universe contained in books and the mundane existence of those who do not seek knowledge or adventure beyond their immediate surroundings. He suggests that while books offer boundless opportunities for discovery and growth, many people are content to live complacently, missing out on the treasures that literature and exploration of the world can provide.
Themes
BooksKnowledgeDiscoveryLifePassion
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of reading for students.
More from Carlos Ruiz Zafon
All quotes →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.
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
Destiny doesn't do home visits... you have to go for it yourself.
Carlos Ruiz ZafonRead
Similar quotes
Children want the same things we want. To laugh, to be challenged, to be entertained, and delighted.
Dr. SeussRead
I come from not just a household but a country where the finesse of language, well-balanced sentence, structure, syntax, these things are driven into us, and my parents, bless them, are great custodians of the English language.
Daniel Day-LewisRead
In days of doubt, in days of dreary musings on my country's fate, you alone are my comfort and support, oh great, powerful, righteous, and free Russian language!
Ivan TurgenevRead
There's something missing about how we're informing the youngsters coming along about what matters in the world. We teach them the numbers and the letters, but we fail to communicate the importance of our connection to the living world.
Sylvia EarleRead
For thousands and thousands of American kids, libraries are the only safe place they can find to study, a haven free from the dangers of street or the numbing temptations of television. As schools cut back services, the library looms even more important to countless children.
Scott TurowRead
The anthropologist must relinquish his comfortable position in the long chair on the veranda of the missionary compound, Government station, or planter's bungalow, where, armed with pencil and notebook and at times with a whisky and soda, he has been accustomed to collect statements from informants.... He must go out into the villages, and see the natives at work in gardens, on the beach, in the jungle; he must sail with them to distant sandbanks and to foreign tribes.
Bronislaw MalinowskiRead