Gabriel García Márquez: 40 Notable Quotes
Gabriel García Márquez (born March 6, 1927, in Aracataca, Colombia – died April 17, 2014, in Mexico City, Mexico) was a Colombian novelist, short story writer, and journalist considered one of the greatest writers of the 20th century.
Márquez’s most important works include novels One Hundred Years of Solitude (Cien años de soledad, 1967) and Love in the Time of Cholera (El amor en los tiempos del cólera, 1985), and novellas The Leaf Storm (La Hojarasca, 1955), Memories of My Melancholy Whores (Memoria de mis putas tristes, 2004), and No One Writes to the Colonel (El coronel no tiene quien le escriba, 1961).
Key Takeaways
- In 1982, Márquez was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature “for his novels and short stories, in which the fantastic and the realistic are combined in a richly composed world of imagination, reflecting a continent’s life and conflicts.”
Below are the best Márquez quotes on love, life, writing, and more. For Gabriel García Márquez quotes in Spanish with translation, click here.
Table of Contents
Best Gabriel García Márquez Quotes
I do not believe in God, but I am afraid of Him.Love in the Time of Cholera (1985), (Alfred A. Knopf, ed. 1988), Page 304
A lie is more comfortable than doubt, more useful than love, more lasting than truth.The Autumn of the Patriarch (1975), (Harper & Row, ed. 1976), Page 250
No, not rich, I am a poor man with money, which is not the same thing.Love in the Time of Cholera (1985), (Alfred A. Knopf, ed. 1988), Page 167
No medicine cures what happiness cannot.Of Love and Other Demons (1994), (Alfred A. Knopf, ed. 1995), Chapter One, Page 33
If God had not rested on Sunday He would have had time to finish the world properly.Montiel's Widow in Big Mama's Funeral (1962)
Wisdom comes to us when it can no longer do any good.Love in the Time of Cholera (1985), (Alfred A. Knopf, ed. 1988), Page 26
A person doesn’t die when he should but when he can.One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967), (Harper & Row, ed. 1970), Chapter 12, Page 241
The interpretation of our reality through patterns not our own, serves only to make us ever more unknown, ever less free, ever more solitary.Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech (December 8, 1982)
If you wait for the big things, you can wait for the little ones.No One Writes to the Colonel (1961), (Harper & Row, ed. 1968), Page 39
Fame is very agreeable, but the bad thing is that it goes on 24 hours a day.A Talk with Gabriel García Márquez by Marlise Simons, in The New York Times (December 5, 1982)
The only difference today between Liberals and Conservatives is that the Liberals go to mass at five o’clock and the Conservatives at eight.One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967), (Harper & Row, ed. 1970), Chapter 12, Page 241
Crazy people are not crazy if one accepts their reasoning.Of Love and Other Demons (1994), (Alfred A. Knopf, ed. 1995), Chapter Two, Page 35
Humanity, like armies in the field, advances at the speed of the slowest.Love in the Time of Cholera (1985), (Alfred A. Knopf, ed. 1988), Page 312
Justice, limps along, but gets there all the same.In Evil Hour (1962), (Harper & Row, ed. 1979), Chapter 9, Page 155
One does not love one’s children just because they are one’s children but because of the friendship formed while raising them.Love in the Time of Cholera (1985), (Alfred A. Knopf, ed. 1988), Page 207
A person does not belong to a place until there is someone dead under the ground.One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967), (Harper & Row, ed. 1970), Chapter 1, Page 13
Nobody deserves your tears, but whoever deserves them will not make you cry.Gabriel García Márquez's Facebook (Jun 29, 2011)
In the end, it is impossible not to become what others believe you are.Memories of My Melancholy Whores (2004), (Alfred A. Knopf, ed. 2005), Chapter 5, Page 96
The only thing worse than bad health is a bad name.Love in the Time of Cholera (1985), (Alfred A. Knopf, ed. 1988), Page 81
Gabriel García Márquez Quotes on Love and Marriage
It’s enough for me to be sure that you and I exist at this moment.One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967), (Harper & Row, ed. 1970), Chapter 20, Page 409
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No matter what, nobody can take away the dances you’ve already had.Memories of My Melancholy Whores (2004), (Alfred A. Knopf, ed. 2005), Chapter 5, Page 100
Sex is the consolation you have when you can’t have love.Memories of My Melancholy Whores (2004), (Alfred A. Knopf, ed. 2005), Chapter 3, Page 69
The heart’s memory eliminates the bad and magnifies the good.Love in the Time of Cholera (1985), (Alfred A. Knopf, ed. 1988), Page 106
Ceasing to believe caused a permanent scar in the place where one’s faith had been, making it impossible to forget.Of Love and Other Demons (1994), (Alfred A. Knopf, ed. 1995), Chapter Three, Page 72
The only regret I will have in dying is if it is not for love.Love in the Time of Cholera (1985), (Alfred A. Knopf, ed. 1988), Page 169
The problem in public life is learning to overcome terror; the problem in married life is learning to overcome boredom.Love in the Time of Cholera (1985), (Alfred A. Knopf, ed. 1988), Page 211
The problem with marriage is that it ends every night after making love, and it must be rebuilt every morning before breakfast.Love in the Time of Cholera (1985), (Alfred A. Knopf, ed. 1988), Page 209
Gabriel García Márquez Quotes about Life
All human beings have three lives: public, private, and secret.Gabriel García Márquez: a Life by Gerald Martin (1997)
Human beings are not born once and for all on the day their mothers give birth to them, but that life obliges them over and over again to give birth to themselves.Love in the Time of Cholera (1985), (Alfred A. Knopf, ed. 1988), Page 165
One minute of reconciliation is worth more than a whole life of friendship.One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967), (Harper & Row, ed. 1970), Chapter 14, Page 282
Life is not what one lived, but what one remembers and how one remembers it in order to recount it.Living to Tell the Tale (2002), (Alfred A. Knopf, ed. 2003), Dedication
Gabriel García Márquez Quotes on Writing
Ultimately, literature is nothing but carpentry.The Art of Fiction No. 69 by Peter Stone, in The Paris Review No. 82 (Winter 1981)
The world must be all f***ed up when men travel first class and literature goes as freight.One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967), (Harper & Row, ed. 1970), Chapter 20, Page 401
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.The Art of Fiction No. 69 by Peter Stone, in The Paris Review No. 82 (Winter 1981)
Literature was the best plaything that had ever been invented to make fun of people.One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967), (Harper & Row, ed. 1970), Chapter 19, Page 388
Gabriel García Márquez Quotes about Old Age
A man knows when he is growing old because he begins to look like his father.Love in the Time of Cholera (1985), (Alfred A. Knopf, ed. 1988), Page 170
Most fatal diseases had their own specific odor, but that none was as specific as old age.Love in the Time of Cholera (1985), (Alfred A. Knopf, ed. 1988), Page 40
It is not true that people stop pursuing dreams because they grow old, they grow old because they stop pursuing dreams.Gabriel García Márquez's Facebook (Jun 23, 2011)
The secret of a good old age is simply an honorable pact with solitude.One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967), (Harper & Row, ed. 1970), Chapter 10, Page 199
Age isn’t how old you are but how old you feel.Memories of My Melancholy Whores (2004), (Alfred A. Knopf, ed. 2005), Chapter 3, Page 60
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Everything that goes into my mouth seems to make me fat, everything that comes out of my mouth embarrasses me.No source