Giving this book stars would be completely meaningless. Vallejo's jottings would probably take up one to two pages of actual text; here they're spread out across about 80 small pages, with the Spanish in parallel. It's lovely, and reminds me yet again that anglophones are very bad at the jeu d'esprit, the aphorism, and the short text. I have no idea why. Anyway, three great thoughts from Cesar:

Love liberates me insofar as I *am able* to leave off loving. The person I love must leave me the freedom to be able to hate her at any moment. (49)

He's going to take a shit, and that's why he puts on his glasses. (71)

Listening to Beethoven, a woman and a man are crying faced with the greatness of that music. And I say to them: maybe it's you who have this greatness in your hearts. (75)