Spanish novelist (1964- )
The thing is that my first novel, which was basically a mystery adventure story, won quite an important award in Spain for young adult fiction, and because of this it became a very successful book, and right now it's some sort of a standard title, it's read widely in many high schools in Spain, so I think, in a way, I was a victim of my own success in the field of young adult fiction, because it was never my own natural register. I never intended to write that kind of fiction, but I became very successful at it.
CARLOS RUIZ ZAFON
"An Interview with Carlos Ruiz Zafon", official website
Most of us have the good or bad fortune of seeing our lives fall apart so slowly we barely notice.
CARLOS RUIZ ZAFON
The Shadow of the Wind
Presents are made for the pleasure of who gives them, not the merits of who receives them.
CARLOS RUIZ ZAFON
The Shadow of the Wind
Silence makes idiots seem wise even for a minute.
CARLOS RUIZ ZAFON
The Angel's Game
Have you noticed how the smarter phones get, the dumber people become?
CARLOS RUIZ ZAFON
"Two-Minute Apocalypse", Cultivating Thought: Chipotle Author Series
Sometimes I think that Darwin made a mistake and that in fact man is descended from the pig, because eight out of every ten members of the human race are swine, and as crooked as a hog's tail.
CARLOS RUIZ ZAFON
The Prisoner of Heaven
Those who really love, love in silence, with deeds and not with words.
CARLOS RUIZ ZAFON
The Shadow of the Wind
My wife and I were never happy here. Spain can be narrow-minded, and provincial. In LA you don't have to justify yourself. I think I will leave here again soon and move back there.
CARLOS RUIZ ZAFON
"The Shadow Maker", The Telegraph, Nov. 27, 2005
I was very bored at school. I found it very easy and slow and grey. My teachers didn't really know how to handle me, because I was very sarcastic. I was over-confident, arrogant, a typical youngest child. I went through periods of withdrawing into myself and school psychologists tried to figure me out, work out why I didn't fit in. I found that irritating, too.
CARLOS RUIZ ZAFON
"The Shadow Maker", The Telegraph, Nov. 27, 2005
Man ... heats up like a lightbulb: red hot in the twinkling of an eye and cold again in a flash. The female, on the other hand...heats up like an iron. Slowly, over a low heat, like tasty stew. But then, once she has heated up, there's no stopping her.
CARLOS RUIZ ZAFON
The Shadow of the Wind
His curiosity and love of gossip, albeit with an academic slant, made even the loudmouthed women in the bazaar look like rank amateurs.
CARLOS RUIZ ZAFON
The Midnight Palace
Waiting is the rust of the soul.
CARLOS RUIZ ZAFON
The Shadow of the Wind
There's no such thing as dead languages, only dormant minds.
CARLOS RUIZ ZAFON
The Shadow of the Wind
I think all writers, if they write from the heart -- and I think it's the only way to do it, otherwise it's the most stupid occupation in the world, if you're not doing it because you really love it, and it's very important for you -- I think you always write about yourself, because you want to share your inner world, and you want to explore your own world and communicate with the readers, so in a way everything in The Shadow of the Wind comes from within me and from my own experiences, but also from the greater world of literature, from fiction, from the great novels, the great stories, and all of these elements are, because in a way the novel is a love letter to reading, to the great novels, to the great stories, and all of that is combined, because I'm not only a writer -- I'm a reader. So I write the books I want to read.
CARLOS RUIZ ZAFON
"An Interview with Carlos Ruiz Zafon", official website
Justice is a rare illness in a world that is otherwise a picture of health.
CARLOS RUIZ ZAFON
The Angel's Game
It is impossible to survive in a prolonged state of reality.
CARLOS RUIZ ZAFON
The Angel's Game
I don't care what happens in 100 years. I won't be around.
CARLOS RUIZ ZAFON
"The Shadow Maker", The Telegraph, Nov. 27, 2005
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. One of the great Catalan poets, Joan Maragall, wrote this famous poem in which he called Barcelona the great enchantress, or some kind of sorceress, and in which the city has this dark enticing presence that seduces and lures people. I think Barcelona has a lot of that.
CARLOS RUIZ ZAFON
The Independent, Jun. 24, 2012
Don't be afraid of being scared. To be afraid is a sign of common sense. Only complete idiots are not afraid of anything.
CARLOS RUIZ ZAFON
The Angel's Game
I knew when I was writing The Angel's Game that a lot of people would be upset that I didn't write Shadow Of The Wind 2. That's okay, that's part of the game. You do what you have to do. If they like it, great. If they don't, too bad. What are you going to do?
CARLOS RUIZ ZAFON
"Interview: Carlos Ruiz Zafon", The Scotsman, Jun. 13, 2010