Colonel Aureliano Buendía

"One must accept one's life as a gift, whatever form it takes."

"In his mind he made a quick calculation of the digit possibilities."

"He was following a scent that he had only felt once before."

"Wars are not won by artillery."

"War makes us understand that we are not immortal."

"Wars are made by something inside of men, something deep inside of them."

"Fear is the greatest tyrant of all."

"Leadership is the burden of the lonely."

"The only regret he had was not having had a daughter."

"The only thing worse than a war is another war."

"The wars are history now; only the soldiers remain, like ghosts."

"He had never in his life managed to lift a dead body."

"He believed that solitude was the price of greatness."

"He built and rebuilt the same things, seeking some kind of perfection."

"One must accept that life is a lonely business and that we are condemned to die as we were born."

"The truth is that I have become a prisoner of my own work."

"In the end, we are all condemned to repeat the mistakes of our ancestors."

"A man can survive almost anything, except meaninglessness."

"Solitude is not always a punishment; sometimes it is the only refuge."

"We create our own prisons and then become surprised by our captivity."

"A lifetime of wars teaches nothing if we do not understand peace."

"Hope is the cruelest weapon because it makes us vulnerable."

"We are condemned to love those who cannot love us back."

"A man's work is his monument, whether he builds or destroys."

"The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that very existence of that world is a complete negation of it."

"The fever of war is incurable and those who suffer it cannot rest while there is blood left to spill."

"The war would end in such a way that neither of us would know if we won or lost."

"He spent his life creating intricate things, only to destroy them in the end."

"The only real thing is friendship."

"One should not confuse defeat with truth."