I want to go ahead of Father Time with a scythe of my own.

Sanity is a madness put to good uses.

There is nothing more miserable in the world than to arrive in paradise and look like your passport photo.

Good actions ennoble us, and we are the sons of our deeds.

I like to think of myself at home in the armchair, writing, smoking and occasionally wandering down the shop.

Human decency is not derived from religion. It precedes it.

Anybody who watches three games of football in a row should be declared brain dead.

The good times of today are the sad thoughts of tomorrow.

Laziness never arrived at the attainment of a good wish.

Talk low, talk slow and don't say too much.

The idea is to write it so that people hear it and it slides through the brain and goes straight to the heart.

He who surpasses or subdues mankind must look down on the hate of those below.

Don't send me flowers when I'm dead. If you like me, send them while I'm alive.

When people talk of the freedom of writing, speaking or thinking I cannot choose but laugh. No such thing ever existed. No such thing now exists; but I hope it will exist. But it must be hundreds of years after you and I shall write and speak no more.

The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.

I love Madrid. I am happy to be here. I have been here three years and hope to be here longer. But I am proud of where I come from and never forget the people I grew up with.

Where grief is fresh, any attempt to divert it only irritates.

All satire is blind to the forces liberated by decay. Which is why total decay has absorbed the forces of satire.

If the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin.

The secret of being a bore is to tell everything.

There are books of which the backs and covers are by far the best parts.