Quotes from Like Water for Chocolate

“Each of us is born with a box of matches inside us but we can't strike them all by ourselves”
― Laura Esquivel, quote from Like Water for Chocolate

“Each of us is born with a box of matches inside us but we can't strike them all by ourselves; we need oxygen and a candle to help. In this case, the oxygen for example, would come from the breath of the person you love; the candle would be any kind of food, music, caress, word, or sound that engenders the explosion that lights one of the matches. For a moment we are dazzled by an intense emotion. A pleasant warmth grows within us, fading slowly as time goes by, until a new explosion comes along to revive it. Each person has to discover what will set off those explosions in order to live, since the combustion that occurs when one of them is ignited is what nourishes the soul. That fire, in short, is its food. If one doesn't find out in time what will set off these explosions, the box of matches dampens, and not a single match will ever be lighted.”
― Laura Esquivel, quote from Like Water for Chocolate

“You don't have to think about love; you either feel it or you don't.”
― Laura Esquivel, quote from Like Water for Chocolate

“Necesito una respuesta en este momento, el amor no se piensa, se siente o no se siente.”
― Laura Esquivel, quote from Like Water for Chocolate

“La mera verdad es que la verdad no existe, todo depende del punto de vista.”
― Laura Esquivel, quote from Like Water for Chocolate

“Mi abuela tenía una teoría muy interesante; decía que todos nacemos con una caja de fósforos adentro, pero que no podemos encenderlos solos... necesitamos la ayuda del oxígeno y una vela. En este caso el oxígeno, por ejemplo, vendría del aliento de la persona que amamos; la vela podría ser cualquier tipo de comida, música, caricia, palabra o sonido que engendre la explosión que encenderá uno de los fósforos. Por un momento, nos deslumbra una emoción intensa. Una tibieza placentera crece dentro de nosotros, desvaneciéndose a medida que pasa el tiempo, hasta que llega una nueva explosión a revivirla. Cada persona tiene que descubrir qué disparará esas explosiones para poder vivir, puesto que la combustión que ocurre cuando uno de los fósforos se enciende es lo que nutre al alma. Ese fuego, en resumen, es su alimento. Si uno no averigua a tiempo qué cosa inicia esas explosiones, la caja de fósforos se humedece y ni uno solo de los fósforos se encenderá nunca.”
― Laura Esquivel, quote from Like Water for Chocolate

“It was very pleasant to savor its aroma, for smells have the power to evoke the past, bringing back sounds and even other smells that have no match in the present. -Tita”
― Laura Esquivel, quote from Like Water for Chocolate

“Then she cried without tears, which is said to hurt even more like dry labor.”
― Laura Esquivel, quote from Like Water for Chocolate

“Tita knew through her own flesh how fire transforms the elements, how a lump of corn flour is changed into a tortilla, how a soul that hasn't been warmed by the fire of love is lifeless, like a useless ball of corn flour.”
― Laura Esquivel, quote from Like Water for Chocolate

“You must take care to light the matches one at a time. If a powerful emotion should ignite them all at once, they would produce a splendor so dazzling that it would illuminate far beyond what we can normally see; and then a brilliant tunnel would appear before our eyes, revealing the path we forgot the moment we were born, and summoning us to regain the divine origins we had lost. The soul ever longs to return to the place from which it came, leaving the body lifeless.”
― Laura Esquivel, quote from Like Water for Chocolate

“She felt so lost and lonely. One last chile in walnut sauce left on the platter after a fancy dinner couldn't feel any worse than she did. How many times had she eaten one of those treats, standing by herself in the kitchen, rather than let it be thrown away. When nobody eats the last chile on the plate, it's usually because none of them wants to look like a glutton, so even though they'd really like to devour it, they don't have the nerve to take it. It was as if they were rejecting that stuffed pepper, which contains every imaginable flavor; sweet as candied citron, juicy as pomegranate, with the bit of pepper and the subtlety of walnuts, that marvelous chile in the walnut sauce. Within it lies the secret of love, but it will never be penetrated, and all because it wouldn't feel proper.”
― Laura Esquivel, quote from Like Water for Chocolate

“There are some things in life that shouldn't be given so much importance, if they don't change what is essential.”
― Laura Esquivel, quote from Like Water for Chocolate

“The most elementary of good manners . . . at a social gathering one does not bring up the subject of personalities, sad topics or unfortunate facts, religion, or politics.”
― Laura Esquivel, quote from Like Water for Chocolate

“Pero en ciertos casos es más digno dejarse llevar de un impulso ciego, provocado por un gran amor, que oponerse a él.”
― Laura Esquivel, quote from Like Water for Chocolate

“Como ve, todos tenemos en nuestro interior los elementos necesarios para producir fósforo. Es más, déjeme decirle algo que a nadie le he confiado. Mi abuela tenía una teoría muy interesante, decía que si bien todos nacemos con una caja de cerillos en nuestro interior, no los podemos encender solos, necesitamos como en el experimento, oxígeno y la ayuda de una vela. Sólo que en este caso el oxígeno tiene que provenir, por ejemplo, del aliento de la persona amada; la vela puede ser cualquier tipo de alimento, música, caricia, palabra o sonido que haga disparar el detonador y así encender uno de los cerillos. Por un momento nos sentiremos deslumbrados por una intensa emoción. Se producirá en nuestro interior un agradable calor que irá desapareciendo poco a poco conforme pase el tiempo, hasta que venga una nueva explosión a reavivarlo. Cada persona tiene que descubrir cuáles son sus detonadores para poder vivir, pues la combustión que se produce al encenderse uno de ellos es lo que nutre la energía al alma. En otras palabras, esta combustión es su alimento. Si uno no descubre a tiempo cuáles son sus propios detonadores, la caja de cerillos se humedece y ya nunca podremos encender un solo fósforo”
― Laura Esquivel, quote from Like Water for Chocolate

“Lástima que en aquella época no se hubieran descubierto los hoyos negros en el espacio, porque entonces le hubiera sido muy fácil comprender que sentía un hoyo negro en medio del pecho, por donde se le colaba un frío infinito.”
― Laura Esquivel, quote from Like Water for Chocolate

“Inclusive se convertían en motivo de diversión, a tal grado que durante su niñez Tita no diferenciaba bien las lágrimas de la risa de las del llanto. Para ella reír era una manera de llorar.”
― Laura Esquivel, quote from Like Water for Chocolate

“When you're told there's no way you can marry the woman you love and your only hope of being near her is to marry her sister, wouldn't you do the same?”
― Laura Esquivel, quote from Like Water for Chocolate

“el amor no se piensa: se siente o no se siente.”
― Laura Esquivel, quote from Like Water for Chocolate

“-Perdóneme, Pedro. ¿Lo lastimé?
-No tanto como yo la he lastimado, déjeme decirle que mi propósito...
-No le he pedido ninguna explicación.
-Es necesario que me permita dirigirle unas palabras...
-Una vez lo hice y resultaron una mentira, no quiero escucharlo más...”
― Laura Esquivel, quote from Like Water for Chocolate

“Tita bajó la cabeza y con la misma fuerza con que sus lágrimas cayeron sobre la mesa, así cayó sobre ella su destino. Y desde ese momento supieron ella y la mesa que no podían modificar ni tantito la dirección de esas fuerzas desconocidas que la obligaban, a la una, a compartir con Tita su sino, recibiendo sus amargas lágrimas desde el momento en que nació, y a la otra a asumir esa absurda determinación”
― Laura Esquivel, quote from Like Water for Chocolate

“Lo que me dijiste no cambió mi manera de pensar y te repito que me encantaría ser el compañero de toda tu vida, pero quiero que pienses muy bien si ese hombre soy yo o no. Si tu respuesta es afirmativa, celebraremos la boda dentro de unos días. Si no, yo seré el primero en felicitar a Pedro y pedirle que te dé el lugar que te mereces”
― Laura Esquivel, quote from Like Water for Chocolate

“It doesn't matter to me what you did, there are some things in life that shouldn't be given so much importance, if they don't change what is essential. What you've told me hasn't changed the way I think; I'll say again, I would be delegated to be your companion for the rest of your life-but you must think over very carefully whether I am the man for you or not.”
― Laura Esquivel, quote from Like Water for Chocolate

“...los olores tienen la característica de reproducir tiempos pasados junto con sonidos y olores nunca igualados en el presente.”
― Laura Esquivel, quote from Like Water for Chocolate

“La vida sería mucho más agradable si uno pudiera llevarse a donde quiera que fuera, los sabores y olores de la casa materna.”
― Laura Esquivel, quote from Like Water for Chocolate

“el secreto de la existencia humana no consiste sólo en poseer la vida, sino también en tener un motivo para vivir. El hombre que no tenga una idea clara de la finalidad de la vida, preferirá renunciar a ella aunque esté rodeado de montones de pan y se destruirá a si mismo antes que permanecer en este mundo.”
― Laura Esquivel, quote from Like Water for Chocolate

“Ah, y le sugiero que para la próxima vez que se enamore, ¡no sea tan cobarde!”
― Laura Esquivel, quote from Like Water for Chocolate

“Those huge stars have lasted for millions of years by taking care never to absorb any of the fiery rays lovers all over the world send up at them night after night. To avoid that, the star generates so much heat inside itself that it shatters the rays into a thousand pieces.
Any look it receives is immediately repulsed, reflected back onto the earth, like a trick done with mirrors. That is the reason the stars shine so brightly at night.”
― Laura Esquivel, quote from Like Water for Chocolate

“Hay muchas maneras de poner a secar una caja de cerillos húmeda, pero puede estar segura de que tiene remedio”
― Laura Esquivel, quote from Like Water for Chocolate

“The simple truth is that the truth does not exist; it all depends on a person's point of view.”
― Laura Esquivel, quote from Like Water for Chocolate

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