Quotes from Thus Bad Begins

“Advertir que alguien quiere vincularse a nosotros sexualmente nos obliga a considerarlo,”
― Javier Marías, quote from Thus Bad Begins

“Cuando han pasado muchos años, o incluso no tantos, la gente se cuenta los hechos como le conviene y llega a creerse su propia versión, su distorsión.”
― Javier Marías, quote from Thus Bad Begins

“No hay que prestar más dinero del que uno estaría dispuesto a regalarle a quien le asesta el sablazo.”
― Javier Marías, quote from Thus Bad Begins

“la mirada no se domina, a menudo actúa al margen de nuestras instrucciones y de nuestras censuras, o es que bajo ese pretexto le permitimos desobedecernos.”
― Javier Marías, quote from Thus Bad Begins

“uno hace descubrimientos extraños una vez que toca o es tocado, una vez que uno roza un muslo por accidente”
― Javier Marías, quote from Thus Bad Begins

“No puede andar escuchando las historias con que le viene cualquiera ni hacer de juez universal. No puede dedicarse a castigar, ni siquiera con su actitud, o retirando la amistad, a quien tal vez haya hecho algo malo en alguna ocasión. No acabaríamos,”
― Javier Marías, quote from Thus Bad Begins

“poco es lo que se hace público, poco lo que interesa, poco lo que quiere conocer la gente, que está fijada en lo suyo, cada uno en lo propio y lo de los demás qué importa.”
― Javier Marías, quote from Thus Bad Begins

“Cuando alguien decide matarse, no hay manera de impedirlo.”
― Javier Marías, quote from Thus Bad Begins

“Incontable es el número de criaturas que han tomado por padre a quien no lo era suyo y por hermanos a quienes lo eran a medias,”
― Javier Marías, quote from Thus Bad Begins

“nadie renuncia a la posibilidad de contar algo anómalo.”
― Javier Marías, quote from Thus Bad Begins

“Cuando han pasado muchos años, o incluso no tantos, la gente se cuenta los hechos como le conviene y llega a creerse su propia versión, su distorsión. Con”
― Javier Marías, quote from Thus Bad Begins

“Se vio incitado por ciertas personas lascivas a convertirse en un extraño para su mujer’.”
― Javier Marías, quote from Thus Bad Begins

“no me hubieras dicho nada, si me hubieras mantenido en el engaño. Cuando se lleva uno a cabo, hay que sostenerlo hasta el final.”
― Javier Marías, quote from Thus Bad Begins

“—nos detiene a veces lo que no nos importa—”
― Javier Marías, quote from Thus Bad Begins

“Nunca hay que dejar entrar a nadie, ni un solo día, a menos que esté uno dispuesto a que se quede para siempre.”
― Javier Marías, quote from Thus Bad Begins

“Lo que importó ya no importa o muy poco, y para ese poco hay que hacer un esfuerzo;”
― Javier Marías, quote from Thus Bad Begins

“Contármelo a mí es lo más parecido a no contárselo a nadie.”
― Javier Marías, quote from Thus Bad Begins

“la historia está demasiado llena de pequeños abusos y vilezas mayúsculas”
― Javier Marías, quote from Thus Bad Begins

“Prefiero la palidez de este muerto andante al color del mundo entero. Prefiero demorarme y morir en su palidez que vivir a la luz de todos los vivos.”
― Javier Marías, quote from Thus Bad Begins

“Pero a todo se acostumbra uno pronto y toda idea se sustituye.”
― Javier Marías, quote from Thus Bad Begins

“Qué sentido tiene sacar un día del error. Eso es aún peor, porque desmientes lo habido y uno tiene que volverse a contar lo vivido o negárselo. Y sin embargo vivió lo que vivió. ¿Qué hace uno entonces con eso? ¿Tachar su vida? Eso no es posible, como tampoco renunciar a los años que fueron y ya no pueden ser de otro modo, y de ellos quedará siempre un resto, un recuerdo, aunque ahora sea fantasmagórico, algo que ocurrió y que no ocurrió. ¿Y dónde coloca uno eso, lo que ocurrió y no ocurrió?".”
― Javier Marías, quote from Thus Bad Begins

“ignoramos lo que se fraguó entre la gente que nos precede, y lo más seguro es que lo ignoremos siempre, porque siempre llegamos tarde a la vida de las personas.”
― Javier Marías, quote from Thus Bad Begins

“se tarda más en hablar que en echar un prefijado polvo, sea de nuevo mal dicho y para mejor entendernos.”
― Javier Marías, quote from Thus Bad Begins

“las personas desdichadas se empeñan en averiguar muchas veces la magnitud de su desdicha, o en indagar vidas ajenas para abstraerse de las suyas.”
― Javier Marías, quote from Thus Bad Begins

“Polvo echado, visita acabada, me dio que era una situación de esas: poco que hablar antes, y después nada.”
― Javier Marías, quote from Thus Bad Begins

“Hay gente contenta y conforme, que sólo aspira a que cada día sea igual que el anterior y que el próximo; y a que no se acaben.”
― Javier Marías, quote from Thus Bad Begins

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“But it was my first evidence that Diane lived in a world even bigger than the Big House, a world where grief and joy moved as ponderously as tides, with the weight of an ocean behind them.”
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“In a subway car, my skin would typically fall in the middle of the color spectrum. On street corners, tourists would ask me for directions. I was, in four and a half years, never an American; I was immediately a New Yorker.”
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