WHY I WROTE DICCIONARIO PANHISPÁNICO DE CITAS

 

Many quotation dictionaries in English mention few Spanish writers or thinkers and usually quote Gracián, Cervantes, and, perhaps, Ortega y Gasset. Spanish quotation dictionaries tend to offer the usual fare of Plato, Bernard Shaw, Confucius, and Tolstoi, in poor translations from English. Sources are never mentioned. I decided in 2006 to put together a dictionary of contemporary quotations gathered from the writings of Spanish-speaking writers from 1900 to 2008. Ediciones del Serbal published the 465-page volume as Diccionario panhispánico de citas. It was prologued by Enrique Vila-Matas, El lujo de la citas. Under headings like abogados, democracia, esperanza, globalización, felicidad, Dios, pobreza... you can find quotations from writers, journalists, and thinkers from the Spanish-speaking world, adding sources, places, and dates. For over a year I would borrow three books daily from the José Luis Sampedro Library in Madrid and spend the day reading and extracting quotations. A foolhardy labor of love. It is still in print. (8000 quotations from 825 works from 1900 to 2008.)

Esperar “Yo me encuentro ya con que me sobra tiempo y no me espera nadie.” César González Ruano, “Se ha inventado el paraguas”, ABC, 17/6/1959, Obra periodística, (1943-1965), II, 2003. || “El hombre es proyectivo, futurizo, orientado hacia el futuro. Esto quiere decir que su vida consiste fundamentalmente en esperar.” Julián Marías, La fuerza de la razón, 2005. || “Nuestras horas son minutos / cuando esperamos saber, / y siglos cuando sabemos / lo que se puede aprender.” Antonio Machado, “Nuestras horas son minutos”, Obras completas, Losada, 1964. || “Siempre aparece alguien que no te esperas para nada.” Enrique Vila-Matas, Dublinesca, 2010.