The Queen of the South Quotes

“What about the future?"
"We'll talk about the future when it gets here.”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Queen of the South

“Los libros son puertas que te llevan a la calle, decía Patricia. Con ellos aprendes, te educas, viajas, sueñas, imaginas, vives otras vidas y multiplicas la tuya por mil.”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Queen of the South

“No fear is unbearable, she concluded, unless you've got time on your hands and a healthy imagination.”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Queen of the South

“She had discovered with surprise and pleasure that as she turned each page, the book was written, as if for the first time, all over again.”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Queen of the South

“The sea was cruel and selfish as human beings, and in its monstrous simplicity had no notion of complexities like pity, wounding, or remorse... You could see yourself in it... while the wind, the light, the swaying, the sound of the water on the hull worked the miracle of distancing, calming you until you didn't hurt anymore, erasing any pity, any wound, and any remorse.”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Queen of the South

“Había aprendido que lo malo no era la espera, sino las cosas que imaginas mientras esperas”.”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Queen of the South

“I ask myself how other people see me, and I hope they see me from way far away.”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Queen of the South

“-Nos hacemos fotos, no con el objeto de recordar, sino para completarlas después con el resto de nuestras vidas. Por eso hay fotos que aciertan y fotos que no. Imágenes que el tiempo pone en su lugar, atribuyendo a unas su auténtico significado, y negando otras que se apagan solas, igual que si los colores se borraran con el tiempo.”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Queen of the South

“Os livros são portas que te levam para a rua (...). Com eles aprendes, educas-te, viajas, sonhas, imaginas, vives outras vidas e multiplicas a tua por mil. Quem te oferece mais por menos (...)? E também servem para manter à distância muitas coisas negativas (...) Às vezes interrogo-me como conseguem superar as coisas, aquelas [pessoas] que não lêem.”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, A Rainha do Sul

“Books are doors that lead out into the street,” Patricia would tell her. “You learn from them, educate yourself, travel, dream, imagine, live other lives, multiply your own life a thousand times. Where can you get more for your money, Mexicanita? And they also keep all sorts of bad things at bay: ghosts, loneliness, shit like that.”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Queen of the South

“The advantage of books, as she discovered when she was in El Puerto de Santa María, was that you could appropriate the lives, stories, and thoughts they contained, and you were never the same person when you closed them as when you had opened them for the first time. Very intelligent people had written some of those pages, and if you were able to read with humility, patience and the desire to learn, they never disappointed you. Even the things you didn’t understand stuck here, in a corner of your head, ready for the future to give them meaning, to turn them into beautiful or useful lessons.”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Queen of the South

“El teléfono estaba sobre la colcha, pequeño, negro y siniestro. Lo miró sin tocarlo. Bip-bip. Aterrada. Bip-bip. Su zumbido iba mezclándose con las palabras de la canción, como si formase parte de ella. Porque los contrabandistas, seguían diciendo los Tigres, ésos no perdonan nada. El Güero había usado las mismas palabras, riendo como solía hacerlo, mientras le acariciaba la nuca y le tiraba el teléfono encima de la falda. Si alguna vez suena, es que me habré muerto. Entonces, corre. Cuanto puedas, prietita. Corre y no pares, porque ya no estaré allí para ayudarte. Y si llegas viva a donde sea, échate un tequila en mi memoria. Por los buenos ratos, mi chula. Por los buenos ratos.”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Queen of the South

“And then it struck her that life was sometimes so beautiful that it didn't seem like life at all.”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Queen of the South

“You make a pact with life and death: so many years as a king, and then...Say what you will, dirty money spends as green as clean.”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Queen of the South

“E agora tinha a certeza de uma coisa vislumbrada ao princípio (...) que não há dois livros iguais porque nunca houve dois leitores iguais. E que cada livro lido é, como cada ser humano, um livro singular, uma história única e um mundo à parte.”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, A Rainha do Sul

“... porque no se trata sólo de leer libros sino el placer físico y el consuelo interior que da tenerlos en las manos”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Queen of the South

“Fucking incredible! Four miles in five minutes, with a slight maneuver to avoid an oil barge anchored halfway in. And when the HJ peeled away and abandoned the pursuit and the helicopter began to fall back and gain altitude, Teresa stood up in the middle of the speedboat and, still illuminated by the spotlight, lifted a triumphant single finger. Adiós Cabróooon.”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Queen of the South

“Dantés: que no hay dos libros iguales porque nunca hubo dos lectores iguales. Y que cada libro leído es, como cada ser humano, un libro singular, una historia única y un mundo aparte.”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, La reina del sur

“Gálvez, mejor irlo quemando de poquito a poco, patrona. Sin”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, La reina del sur

“Y es que, en cuestión de mujeres, a veces oyes canto de sirena y te sale loba de mar.”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Queen of the South

“transportaban en un solo viaje de ocho a doce toneladas con la complicidad de la policía, el ministerio de Defensa y la propia presidencia del Gobierno mejicano. Eran los tiempos felices de Carlos Salinas de Gortari, con los narcos traficando a la sombra de Los Pinos;”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, La reina del sur

“El peor mal del ser humano fue inventar la palabra. Mira si no los perros. Así de leales son porque no hablan.”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, La reina del sur