One Hundred Years of Solitude | Quotes

After Úrsula leaves Macondo to find José Arcadio and bring him home, José Arcadio Buendía and Colonel Aureliano Buendía, with Pilar's and a nurse's help, care for Amaranta and the home. After several months, they return to their abandoned alchemy project. This also foreshadows the role of fate in the Buendía family's existence.

When José Arcadio Buendía worries Colonel Aureliano Buendía is spending too much time in the laboratory, Úrsula dismisses him by pointing out their likeness.

When Colonel Aureliano Buendía confesses his love for Remedios Moscote, his father is angry because she is the youngest daughter of his only enemy. This also alludes to the repetition of incestuous relationships in the Buendía family.

After a romantic meeting, Pilar watches Colonel Aureliano Buendía, then simply Aureliano, laboring over his tedious work. He asks her why she's visiting. She sullenly tells him he'd "be good in war," which he welcomingly accepts before telling her that their child will take his name.

When power has a terrible effect on Arcadio's character, strangers and family are ashamed of him.

After many years of war turns Colonel Aureliano Buendía cold, he assembles another rebellion, taking anyone who will fight and losing sight of his original goal.

After Meme meets Mauricio Babilonia, she seeks Pilar's guidance, who is infamous for her keen tarot card readings. When Meme arrives, Pilar recognizes her and reports what she senses immediately.

When José Arcadio Segundo leaves his position at the banana company to unite with the rebelling workers, Úrsula, afflicted with cataracts, senses the political tension, another example of the circularity motif showing that members of one Buendía generation are affected by another.

Following Amaranta's death, Úrsula, who vows she will die after the rain stops, restores the house without her family knowing she is blind.

At the height of his success and youth, Aureliano Segundo says this during a party. For his funeral, his friends emblazon the saying on a wreath for his coffin.

In Aureliano's seclusion, he reads extensively to affirm he knows the contents of books. When others question his encyclopedic knowledge, he repeats this answer.