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Isabel Allende

Isabel Allende Quotes

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Famous Isabel Allende Quotes

“Each of us chooses the tone for telling his or her own story. I would like to choose the durable clarity of a platinum print, but nothing in my destiny possesses the luminosity. I live among diffuse shadings, veiled mysteries, uncertainties; the tone of telling my life is closer to that of a portrait in sepia.”

StoriesLife IsDestinyMysteryClarityUncertaintyTonePrintPortraitsMy DestinyPlatinum
Book:Conversations with Isabel Allende: Revised Edition
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“As I travel through life, I gather experiences that lie imprinted on the deepest strata of memory, and there they ferment, are transformed, and sometimes rise to the surface and sprout like strange plants from other worlds. What is the fertile humus of the subconscious composed of? Why are certain images converted into recurrent themes in nightmares or writing?”

WorldWritingSometimesLyingCertainMemoriesStrangePlantSurfaceThemeNightmareTransformedSubconsciousOther WorldsFertileSprouts
Author:Isabel Allende
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“I felt an unrelenting restlessness. It was the first time I had ever experienced jealousy, and that emotion clung to my skin day and night like a dark stain, a contamination I could not shed; it became so unbearable that when finally I rid myself of it, I was freed forever of the desire to possess another person or the temptation ever to belong to anyone.”

FirstsPersonsDesireNightFeltDarkEmotionForeverFirst TimeSkinsTemptationShedUnbearableDay And NightStainsRestlessnessUnrelentingContamination
Book:Eva Luna: A Novel
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“The most savory grape, the one that produces the wines with best texture and aroma, the sweetest and most generous, doesn't grow in rich soil but in stony land; the plant, with a mother's obstinacy, overcomes obstacles to thrust its roots deep into the ground and take advantage of every drop of water. That, my grandmother explained to me, is how flavors are concentrated in the grape.”

MotherGrowsWaterRichLandProduceAdvantageRootsOvercomingWinePlantObstaclesGenerousSoilGrandmotherMy GrandmotherFlavorSweetestTextureThrustGrapesDrop Of WaterObstinacyAromaSavory
Author:Isabel Allende
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“Until a few months ago we had a code of honor, and even the worst ruffians behaved with decency. You could leave your gold in a tent with no guard and no one would touch it, but now all that has changed. The law of the jungle rules, the only ideology is greed. Don't let yourself be parted from your weapons, and always travel in pairs or groups, because this is a land of thieves.”

LawGroupsLandWorstChangedMonthsHonorWeaponsGoldGreedIdeologyCodePairsThievesJungleDecencyTentsRuffianCode Of Honor
Author:Isabel Allende
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“Every time I asked a question, that magnificent teacher, instead of giving the answer, showed me how to find it. She taught me to organise my thoughts, to do research, to read and listen, to seek alternatives, to resolve old problems with new solutions, to argue logically. Above all, she taught me not to believe anything blindly, to doubt, and to question even what seemed irrefutably true, such as man's superiority over woman, or one race or social class over another.”

MenGivingBelieveProblemSocialAnswersRaceClassDoubtTeacherTaughtSolutionsResearchArguingAlternativesResolveMagnificentSuperiorityMy ThoughtsSocial Class
Author:Isabel Allende
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“As my Popo used to say, life is a tapestry we weave day by day with threads of different colors, some heavy and dark, others thin and bright, all the threads having their uses. The stupid things I did are already in the tapestry, indelible, but I’m not going to be weighed down by them till I die. What’s done is done; I have to look ahead.”

LooksDifferentDoneUseLife IsUsedDiesDarkStupidColorHeavyThreadStupid ThingsTapestryIndelibleDifferent Colors
Author:Isabel Allende
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