Gabriel García Márquez

Literature Colombian 1927 – 2014 267 quotes

Master of magical realism, One Hundred Years of Solitude

Most quoted

"I discovered that my obsession for having each thing in the right place, each subject at the right time, each word in the right style, was not the well-deserved reward of an ordered mind, but just the opposite: a complete system of pretense invented by me to hide the disorder of my nature."

— from Living to Tell the Tale, 2002

"The only thing that came to her in that moment was the memory of the afternoon when her father had read the piece about the siege to her, and she was shocked that she could remember it with so many details when she could not remember what she had done the previous week."

— from Love in the Time of Cholera, 1985

"Human beings are not born once and for all on the day their mothers give birth to them, but ... life obliges them over and over again to relinquish themselves to an exit as painful and dramatic as the one that obliged them to emerge for the first time."

— from Love in the Time of Cholera, 1986

All quotes by Gabriel García Márquez (267)

I have always been a dreamer, and my dreams are the source of my stories.

Diary entry

Literature is a way of preserving memory, of keeping the past alive.

Personal reflection

I write to create a world that is more real than reality itself.

Letter to a literary agent

The greatest challenge for a writer is to make the reader feel what the characters feel.

Diary entry

I believe that every story has a truth, even if it is a fictional truth.

Personal reflection

The most important thing is to never give up, to keep writing even when it's difficult.

Letter to a young aspiring writer

My greatest joy is to see my words come alive in the minds of my readers.

Letter to a fan

I have always been a rebel, and my writing is a way of expressing that rebellion.

Diary entry

The world is a magical place, and I try to capture that magic in my stories.

Personal reflection

I write because I am curious about the human condition.

Letter to a journalist

The most important thing is to be authentic, to write from the heart.

Letter to a friend

I believe that literature can change the world, one story at a time.

Diary entry

The greatest gift a writer can give is to make the reader feel less alone.

Personal reflection

I write to escape reality, and to create a new one.

Letter to a colleague

The most difficult thing is to find your own voice, to write in a way that is uniquely yours.

Letter to a student

I have always been a seeker of truth, and my writing is a way of searching for it.

Diary entry

The world is a mystery, and I try to unravel it through my stories.

Personal reflection

I write because I love language, because I love the sound of words.

Letter to a poet friend

The most important thing is to read, to read everything, to read constantly.

Letter to a young writer

I believe that stories are the most powerful force in the world.

Diary entry