Important Quotations Explained
[Lorenzo Daza] . . . lowered his voice. "Don't force me to shoot you," he said. Florentino felt his intestines filling with cold froth. But his voice did not tremble because he felt himself illuminated by the Holy Spirit. "Shoot me," he said, with his hand on his chest. "There is no greater glory than to die for love."
When Lorenzo Daza walked into the entryway, the crows, awake under their sheets, emitted a funereal shriek. "They will peck out your eyes," the Doctor said aloud, thinking of her . . . They saw him appear in the door [upon his return home], his face haggard and his entire being dishonored by the whorish perfume of the crows.
"Fermina," he said, "I have waited for this opportunity for more than half a century, to repeat to you once again my vow of eternal fidelity and everlasting love."
At the height of pleasure he had experienced a revelation that he could not believe, that he even refused to admit, which was that his illusory love for Fermina Daza could be replaced by an earthly passion.
By two o'clock in the morning they had each drunk three brandies, and he knew, in truth, that he was not the man she was looking for, and he was glad to know it. "Bravo, lionlady," he said when he left. "We have killed the tiger."
