25 Quotes from Mario Benedetti

The expansive and wonderful work of Mario Benedetti is like a ladder to our dreams. With his words, the Uruguayan writer transports us into a world of insight and nostalgia. Here we give you 25 spectacular phrases that are a wonder for the senses:

1. Don’t tempt me, because if we tempt ourselves we can’t go back.
2. But really, what is this “Us”? For now, at least, it’s complicity in the face of others, a shared secret, a unilateral pact. Naturally, it’s not an adventure, or a plan, or — least of all — a courtship. But it’s more than a friendship. The worst (or the best?) is that she feels very comfortable with this lack of definition. She speaks to me with total trust, total humor, even with tenderness.
3. Just when we think we have all the answers, all the questions change.
4. The butterfly never forgets that it was once a caterpillar.
5. In the end, death is just a symptom of having lived.
6. Reason only lets in doubts that have a key.
7. The new man needs to be careful of two dangers: the one on the right if he’s right handed, and the one on the left if he’s left handed.
8. Don’t believe what the world tells you (not even this that I’m telling you); I already told you the world is unreliable.
9. Who would tell you that the truly weak people never give in.
10. There are few things as deafening as silence.
11. I like looking at everything from far away, except you.
12. Don’t give in, don’t accept defeat, even if the cold burns and the fear bites, even if the sun hides itself and the wind is silent, there’s still fire in your soul and life in your dreams. Life is yours and so is desire, because every day is a new beginning, because now is the time and the best moment, because you aren’t alone, because I love you!

    

13. I like the people who vibrate, who you don’t have to push, who you don’t have to tell how things work, who already know who they are and do what they have to do. The people who live their dreams until these dreams turn into reality.
14. I like people who understand that the biggest fault with humanity is trying to do with the mind what they can’t with the heart.
15. All we have is this unique and happy moment. We prefer to lose it, to let it pass by without even a reasonable attempt to grab it. We prefer to lose everything before we admit that it’s the only possibility, that our only chance is one minute and not longer, of beautiful existence.
16. I love, you love, he loves, we love, you all love, they love. I wish that was reality instead of just conjugation.
17. Five minutes is enough to dream a whole life, that’s how relative time is.
18. I never though happiness would be so sad.
19. What wonderful insomnia if it’s your body that’s keeping me awake.
20. My plan is one day — I don’t know how or why — you’ll need me.
21. Glory doesn’t mean never falling down, but rather getting back up when you need to.
22. Love is not repetition. Each act of love is a cycle of it’s own, a closed orbit in its own ritual. It is, how can I explain this, a fistful of life.
23. Perfection is a well-polished collection of mistakes.
24. If the heart tires of caring, then what is it for.
25. If one only realized what he has with as much clarity as he recognizes what he lacks!