The Club Dumas Quotes

“One is never alone with a book nearby, don't you agree? Every page reminds us of a day that has passed and makes us relive the emotions that filled it. Happy hours underlined in red pencil, dark ones in black...”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Club Dumas

“Everyone gets the devil he deserves.”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Club Dumas

“Because God and the devil could be one and the same thing, and everybody understood it in his own way.”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, El club Dumas

“As for me, all I know is that I know nothing. And when I want to know something, I look it up in books--their memory never fails”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Club Dumas

“Becoming a book collector is like joining a religion: it’s for life.”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Club Dumas

“Films are for everyone, collective, generous, with children cheering when the cavalry arrives. And they're even better on TV: two can watch and comment. But your books are selfish. Solitary. Some of them can't even be read, they fall to bits if you open them. A person who's interested only in books doesn't need other people, and that frightens me”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Club Dumas

“The world is full of banks and rivers running between them, of men and women crossing bridges and fords, unaware of the consequences, not looking back or beneath their feet, and with no loose change for the boatman.”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, El club Dumas

“Of all the universal lies she accepted unquestioningly, the happy ending was the most absurd. The hero and heroine lived happily ever after, and the ending seemed indisputable, definitive. No questions asked about how long love or happiness lasts in that 'forever' that can be divided into lifetimes, years, months. Even days”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Club Dumas

“You’ve just mentioned the price that has to be paid…Pride, freedom…Knowledge. Whether at the beginning or at the end, you have to pay for everything. Even courage, don’t you think? And don’t you think a lot of courage is needed to fight God?”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, El club Dumas

“Whenever I got any money, I invested it in books. When my savings dwindled, I got rid of everything else—pictures, furniture, china. I think you understand what it is to be a passionate collector of books…”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Club Dumas

“Who are you?"
"The devil," she said. "The devil in love.”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Club Dumas

“I'm afraid of wooden horses, cheap gin, and pretty girls. Especially when they give me presents. And when they go by the name of the woman who defeated Sherlock Holmes.”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Club Dumas

“You can make a text mean anything, especially if it’s old and full of ambiguities.”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Club Dumas

“And which devil do you prefer? Dante's?"

"No. Much too terrifying. Too medieval for my taste."

"Mephistopheles?"

"Not him, either. He's too pleased with himself. Too much a trickster, like a crooked lawyer ... Anyway, I never trust people who smile a lot."

"What about the one in The Karamazovs?"

"Petty. A civil servant with dirty nails. I suppose the devil I prefer is Milton's fallen angel.”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Club Dumas

“When he stepped into the shower, the hot water scalded him. He let it run over his face, burning his eyelids. He put up with the pain, his jaw clenched and his muscles taut, suppressing the urge to howl with loneliness in the suffocating steam. For four years, one month, and twelve days, Nikon always got into the shower with him after they made love and soaped his back slowly, interminably. And often she put her arms around him, like a little girl in the rain. One day I'll leave without ever really knowing you. You'll remember my big, dark eyes. The reproachful silences. The moans of anxiety as I slept. The nightmares you couldn't save me from. You'll remember all this when I'm gone.”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Club Dumas

“Amicizia..." Corso si guardò attorno, aspettando che qualcuno gli spiegasse la parola. "I bar e i cimiteri sono pieni di amici inseparabili.”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Club Dumas

“A century from now,” he murmured as he lifted a page and examined it against the light, closing one eye, “almost all the contents of today’s libraries will have disappeared. But these books, printed two hundred or even five hundred years ago, will remain intact. We have the books, and the world, that we deserve. . . . Isn’t that so, Pablo?” “Lousy books printed on lousy paper.”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Club Dumas

“Quien sólo se interesa por los libros no necesita a nadie, y eso me da miedo.”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Club Dumas

“As far as cheating goes , you have illustrious predecessors . Theseus escaped from the labyrinth thanks to Ariadne's thread , Jason stole the golden fleece with Medea's help .... The Kaurabas used subterfuge to win at dice in the Mahabharata , and the Achaeans checkmated the Trojans by moving a wooden horse . Your conscience is clear .”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Club Dumas

“That was the problem with modern day witches , thought Corso : they didn't have any secrets . Everything was out in the open , you could read all about them in any Who's Who or gossip column . Baronesses or not , they had become predictable , vulgar . Torquemada would have been bored to death by it all .”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Club Dumas

“Audience turn to archetype packed stories to enjoy, whether consciously or unconsciously, the device of repeated plots with small variations. Dispositio rather than elocution. That's why the serial, even the most trite television serial, can become a cult both for a naïve audience and for a more sophisticated one.”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Club Dumas

“Начинът, по който някои хора пипат книги, е направо престъпен.”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Club Dumas

“Non mi piacciono i regali” mormorò Corso, cupo. “Una volta dei tipi accettarono un certo cavallo di legno. Artigianato acheo, c'era scritto sull'etichetta. Che idioti.”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Club Dumas

“When did it happen?” “A longer time ago than you can conceive. It was very hard. I fought for a hundred days and a hundred nights without hope or refuge.” An almost imperceptible smile played on her lips. “That’s the only thing I’m proud of—having fought to the end. I retreated but didn’t turn my back, surrounded by others also fallen from on high. I was hoarse with shouting out my fury, my fear and exhaustion. After the battle, I walked across a plain as desolate and lonely as eternity is cold. . . . I still sometimes come across a trace of the battle, or an old comrade who passes by without daring to look up.”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Club Dumas

“If only he knew whether the end of the story was already written, or whether he himself was writing it as he went along, chapter by chapter.”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Club Dumas

“En cuanto al diablo, sólo es el dolor de Dios; la cólera de un dictador cogido en su propia trampa. La historia contada del lado de los vencedores.”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, El club Dumas

“The girl was staring at the muddy river as if it were sweeping away her memories. Corso saw her smile, thoughtfully, absently. "I never knew an impartial god. Or devil." She turned to him suddenly - her earlier thoughts seemed to have washed downstream. "Do you believe in the Devil, Corso?" He looked at her intently, but the river had also swept away the images that had filled her eyes seconds before. All he could see there now was liquid green, and light. “I believe in stupidity and ignorance.” He smiled wearily at the girl. They had continued walking and were now on the wooden boards of the Pont des Arts. The girl stopped and leaned on the metal rail, by a street artist selling tiny water colours.” "I like this bridge," she said. "No cars. Only lovers, and old ladies in hats. People with nothing to do. This bridge has absolutely no common sense.”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Club Dumas

“In essence, games are the only universally serious activity. They leave no room for skepticism, wouldn’t you agree? However incredulous or doubting you might be, if you want to play, you have no choice but to follow the rules. Only the person who respects the rules, or at least knows and applies them, can win. Reading a book is the same: you have to accept the plot and the characters to enjoy the story.”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Club Dumas

“You can still turn back, he told himself. In that way, none of what happened has ever happened, and none of what will take place will ever take place.”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Club Dumas

“Excellent papier. Rien à voir avec les pâtes mécaniques d'aujourd'hui... Vous savez quelle est la durée de vie moyenne d'un livre imprimé à l'heure actuelle ?... Dis lui, Pablo.
- Soixante-dix ans, répondit l'autre avec rancœur, comme si Corso était le coupable. Soixante-dix misérables années.
Le frère aîné cherchait quelque chose parmi les objets dispersés sur la table. Finalement, il s'empara d'une loupe spéciale à fort grossissement et l'approcha du livre.
- Dans moins d'un siècle, murmura-t-il tandis qu'il soulevait une page pour l'étudier à contre-jour en fermant un œil, presque tout ce qui se trouve aujourd'hui dans les librairies aura disparu. Mais ces volumes imprimés il y a deux cents ou cinq cents ans, demeureront intacts... Nous avons les livres, comme le monde, que nous méritons... N'est-ce pas, Pablo ?
- Des livres de merde pour un monde de merde.”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Club Dumas