Quotes from Terra Nostra

Carlos Fuentes ·  785 pages

Rating: (840 votes)


“Incredible the animal that first dreamed of another animal.”
― Carlos Fuentes, quote from Terra Nostra


“Normality; show me normality, señor caballero, and I will show you an exception to the abnormal order of the universe; show me a normal event and I shall call it miraculous because it is normal.”
― Carlos Fuentes, quote from Terra Nostra


“Since I neither want not can influence the events of the world, my mission is to preserve the internal integrity and equilibrium of my mind; that will be in which the manor in which I recover the purity of the original act; I shall be my own citadel, and to it I shall retire to protect myself against a hostile and corrupt world. I shall be my own citadel and, within it, my own and only citizen.”
― Carlos Fuentes, quote from Terra Nostra


“The mystery of other individuals, señor caballero, is ordinarily grief we neither share nor understand.”
― Carlos Fuentes, quote from Terra Nostra


“all that was left to me was certain images and all of them spoke to me of the collapse of a cruel world and the slow construction in its stead of another world, equally cruel.”
― Carlos Fuentes, quote from Terra Nostra



“Power does not alter a man's character. It merely reveals it.”
― Carlos Fuentes, quote from Terra Nostra


“But reason... tells us that merely with repetition the extraordinary becomes ordinary, and only briefly abandoned, what had once passed for a common and ordinary occurrence becomes a portent:”
― Carlos Fuentes, quote from Terra Nostra


“It is true that every mountain has four faces, and one tends to know but one.
― Carlos Fuentes, Terra Nostra”
― Carlos Fuentes, quote from Terra Nostra


“He himself felt defeated because he was fighting against something he did not hate, because he did not understand the fratricidal hatred between the sons of Araby and Israel, and because he loved and knew and appreciated and wanted to save the merits of their cultures, although not the cruelty of their powers; he knew and loved the fountains and the gardens and the patios and high towers of al-Andalus, the nature that has been made more beautiful by man for man's pleasure, not for his mortification.”
― Carlos Fuentes, quote from Terra Nostra


About the author

Carlos Fuentes
Born place: in Panama City, Panama
Born date November 11, 1928
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“Ако стане нещо с мен - казваше, - има къде да се подслониш." Човек наистина трябва да има някакъв подслон от нуждата. Но от другото, от онова, което не е непосредствена нужда - от него къде да се подслони?”
― Albert Camus, quote from Exile and the Kingdom


“I never meant that," [Anyan] said, eventually. "I've never thought you were pathetic and I don't consider you half of anything." His voice was sad, the tone familiar yet unidentifiable that I wanted to scream. "You're Jane," he concluded, "and that's enough." He looked over at me, his face shadowed but his eyes still visible.”
― Nicole Peeler, quote from Tempest Rising


“You can't choose someone else's destiny for them, Kelley. And you shouldn't let anyone choose yours.”
― Lesley Livingston, quote from Tempestuous


“I was born upon the prairie, where the wind blew free, and there was nothing to break the light of the sun. I was born where there were no enclosures, and where everything drew a free breath."

the Great Comanche war chief, Ten Bears”
― Laura Bush, quote from Spoken from the Heart


“This Plantagenet king comes from the devil.”
― Edward Rutherfurd, quote from The Princes of Ireland


Interesting books

Heartburn
(16.6K)
Heartburn
by Nora Ephron
The Shadow of the Bear
(1.6K)
The Shadow of the Be...
by Regina Doman
Songmaster
(6.6K)
Songmaster
by Orson Scott Card
Henry and June: From "A Journal of Love"--The Unexpurgated Diary of Anaïs Nin
(8.7K)
Henry and June: From...
by Anaïs Nin
Catch of the Day
(10.6K)
Catch of the Day
by Kristan Higgins
Pierre: or, the Ambiguities
(0.9K)
Pierre: or, the Ambi...
by Herman Melville

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.