“Fear is inevitable, I have to accept that, but I cannot allow it to paralyze me.”

— Isabel Allende, The Sum of Our Days: A Memoir, 2007

About Isabel Allende

Born 1942

Chilean-American novelist, author of "The House of the Spirits".

“Happiness is not exuberant or noisy, like pleasure or joy; it's silent, tranquil, and gentle.”

“Silence before being born, silence after death: life is nothing but noise between two unfathomable silences.”

“Photographs deceive time, freezing it on a piece of cardboard where the soul is silent.”

“When in doubt, tell the truth.”

“Do not worry about your difficulties in Mathematics. I can assure you mine are still greater.”

“I never "worry" about action, but only about inaction.”

“The superior man has neither anxiety nor fear.”

“Gratitude looks to the past and love to the present; fear, avarice, lust, and ambition look ahead.”

“When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness.”