“The memory a book leaves behind is more important than the book itself.”

Original: El recuerdo que deja un libro es más importante que el libro mismo. — The lasting emotional and intellectual impression of reading matters more than the physical book. · Prose remark, commonly attributed (Spanish)

• Books
• Memory
• Reading

“You need only feel and think in order to understand me.”

Original: Como sólo de lo que he sentido y he pensado he de hablarte, te bastará sentir y pensar para comprenderme. — Understanding literature, in Bécquer's view, depends on shared human experience as much as intellectual analysis. · Letter I, Cartas literarias a una mujer (Spanish)

• Feeling
• Thought
• Understanding

“When a poet paints his love for you in magnificent verse, doubt him. When he reveals it to you in prose, and bad prose at that, believe him.”

Original: Cuando un poeta te pinta en magníficos versos su amor, duda. Cuando te lo dé á conocer en prosa, y mala, cree. — With characteristic irony, Bécquer suggests that spontaneous prose may reveal genuine feeling more honestly than polished verse. · Letter II, Cartas literarias a una mujer (Spanish)

• Irony
• Love
• Poetry