David Martín on Inspiration

“Inspiration comes when you stick your elbows on the table and your bottom on the chair and start sweating. Choose a theme, an idea, and squeeze your brain until it hurts. That’s called inspiration.”
– David Martín in Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s The Angel’s Game, Act Two: “Lux Aeterna”, Chapter 13

Andreas Corelli on Silence

“Silence makes even idiots seem wise for a minute.”
– Andreas Corelli in Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s The Angel’s Game, Act Two: “Lux Aeterna”, Chapter 8

David Martín on Talent

“…there are a lot of people with talent and passion, and many of them never get anywhere. This is only the first step toward achieving anything in life. Natural talent is like an athlete’s strength. You can be born with more or less ability, but nobody can become an athlete just because he or she [...]

Andreas Corelli on Narratives

“Everything is a tale… What we believe, what we know, what we remember, even what we dream. Everything is a story, a narrative, a sequence of events with characters communicating an emotional content. We only accept as true what can be narrated.”
– Andreas Corelli in Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s The Angel’s Game, Act One: “City of [...]

Andreas Corelli on Friendship

“I don’t trust people who say they have a lot of friends. It’s a sure sign that they don’t really know anyone.”
– Andreas Corelli in Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s The Angel’s Game, Act One: “City of the Damned”, Chapter 13

David Martín on Desire

“You don’t know what thirst is until you drink for the first time.”
– David Martín in Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s The Angel’s Game, Act One: “City of the Damned”, Chapter 4

Pedro Vidal on Envy

“Envy is the religion of the mediocre. It comforts them, it soothes their worries, and finally it rots their souls, allowing them to justify their meanness and greed until they believe these to be virtues. Such people are convinced that the doors of heaven will be opened only to poor wretches like themselves who go [...]

David Martín on Writing

“A writer never forgets the first time he accepted a few coins or a word of praise in exchange for a story. He will never forget the sweet poison of vanity in his blood and the belief that, if he succeeds in not letting anyone discover his lack of talent, the dream of literature will [...]

Floyd Ferris on Genius

“Genius is a superstition… There’s no such thing as the intellect. A man’s brain is a social product. A sum of influences that he’s picked up from those around him. Nobody invents anything, he merely reflects what’s floating in the social atmosphere. A genius is an intellectual scavenger and a greedy hoarder of the ideas [...]

Hank Rearden on Character

“But what a man does out of despair, is not necessarily a key to his character. I have always thought that the real key is in that which he seeks for his enjoyment.”
– Hank Rearden in Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, Part II, Chapter IV