168
" 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 their 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 through life without leaving any trace but their threadbare attempts to belittle others and to exclude - and destroy if possible - those who, by the simple fact of their existence, show up their own poorness of spirit, mind, and guts. Blessed be the one at whom the fools bark, because his soul will never belong to them. "
― Carlos Ruiz Zafón , The Angel's Game (The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, #2)
173
" Don Ricardo wanted a successor worthy of himself. Jorge would always be cocooned in the privileges of his class, hiding from his mediocrity in creature comforts. Penelope, the beautiful Penelope, was a woman, and therefore a treasure, not a treasurer. Julian, who had the soul of a poet, and therefore the soul of a murderer, fulfilled all the requirements. It was only a question of time. "
― Carlos Ruiz Zafón , The Shadow of the Wind (The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, #1)
178
" Televīzija, draugs Daniel, ir antikrists, un es jums saku, ka pietiks ar trim vai četrām paaudzēm, lai cilvēki paši neprastu pat nopirsties, un cilvēciskā būtne agriezīsies alā, viduslaiku tumsonībā, un tajā muļķības stāvoklī, ko kailgliemezis pārvarēja jau pleistocēna laikmetā. Šī pasaule neies bojā no autombumbas, kā raksta laikrakstos, tā nomirs no smiekliem, no banalitātes, visu pārvēršot par joku, un turklāt sliktu joku. "
― Carlos Ruiz Zafón , The Shadow of the Wind (The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, #1)