Faulkner is a writer who has had much to do with my soul, but Hemingway is the one who had the most to do with my craft - not simply for his books, but for his astounding knowledge of the aspect of craftsmanship in the science of writing.

In journalism just one fact that is false prejudices the entire work. In contrast, in fiction one single fact that is true gives legitimacy to the entire work. That's the only difference, and it lies in the commitment of the writer. A novelist can do anything he wants so long as he makes people believe in it.

From the moment I wrote 'Leaf Storm' I realized I wanted to be a writer and that nobody could stop me and that the only thing left for me to do was to try to be the best writer in the world.

I don't know who said that novelists read the novels of others only to figure out how they are written. I believe it's true. We aren't satisfied with the secrets exposed on the surface of the page: we turn the book around to find the seams.

I must try and break through the cliches about Latin America. Superpowers and other outsiders have fought over us for centuries in ways that have nothing to do with our problems. In reality we are all alone.

I think that the idea that I'm writing for many more people than I ever imagined has created a certain general responsibility that is literary and political. There's even pride involved, in not wanting to fall short of what I did before.

Tricks you need to transform something which appears fantastic, unbelievable into something plausible, credible, those I learned from journalism. The key is to tell it straight. It is done by reporters and by country folk.

Nobody deserves your tears, but whoever deserves them will not make you cry.

It is not true that people stop pursuing dreams because they grow old, they grow old because they stop pursuing dreams.

A man knows when he is growing old because he begins to look like his father.

What matters in life is not what happens to you but what you remember and how you remember it.

She discovered with great delight that one does not love one's children just because they are one's children but because of the friendship formed while raising them.

The problem with marriage is that it ends every night after making love, and it must be rebuilt every morning before breakfast.

Always remember that the most important thing in a good marriage is not happiness, but stability.

No, not rich. I am a poor man with money, which is not the same thing.

I don't believe in God, but I'm afraid of Him.

The heart's memory eliminates the bad and magnifies the good.

Fiction was invented the day Jonas arrived home and told his wife that he was three days late because he had been swallowed by a whale.

An early-rising man is a good spouse but a bad husband.

If God hadn't rested on Sunday, He would have had time to finish the world.