Mafalda is a fictitious character created by the Argentine comedian Quino , whose real name is Joaquín Salvador Lavado Tejón. This girl, who is part of a comic strip, tries to represent and reflect the idealism of the middle and progressive classes and the concern and rebellion against the problems of today’s society. Her witty phrases invite reflection on many aspects of our daily lives in an ironic and irreverent way.

That is why this article includes a selection of phrases from Mafalda .

50 great phrases of Mafalda

Below you can see about fifty sentences with which Quino’s character, Mafalda, questions and criticizes controversial aspects of society.

1. Life is nice, but many people confuse nice with easy

Difficulties and obstacles are something we have to deal with continuously throughout life, and in fact they allow us to mature and learn to value their beauty.

2. If living is lasting, I prefer a Beatles song to a Boston Pops Long Play

This phrase expresses the need to live intensely and without fear , taking advantage of our life regardless of the time we are here.

3. Half the world loves dogs; and to this day no one knows what wow means

Criticism of the lack of knowledge, communication and mutual understanding.

4. As always; as soon as you get your feet on the ground, the fun stops

Mafalda points out that extreme realism leads us to worry excessively and does not allow us to dream.

5. The problem is that there are more interested people than interesting people

Today the prevailing culture tends towards individualism , with a wide range of the population focusing their behaviour and lifestyle solely on the search for personal benefit.

6. Everywhere they cook beans, but no one dares to strangle the maitre d’.

This sentence expresses that although there are many problems, most people just suffer from them without looking for a real solution to end them.

7. Life is nice, but many people confuse nice with easy

Difficulties and obstacles are something we have to deal with continuously throughout life, and in fact they allow us to mature and learn to value their beauty.

8. What do the years matter? What really matters is to see that at the end of the day the best age in life is to be alive

A reflection that drives us to stop valuing age so much as it is not the important thing. There is no age that has to be better than another. We have to focus on what is important: living.

9. Stop the world, I want to get off!

This phrase, originating from Groucho Marx, expresses a critique of the way the world works today and the need for change.

10. Do we send a parent every day to get that damn office to give us this back?

This sentence from Mafalda criticises the excessive level of exigency to and absorption of the labour world.

11. Ideally, the heart should be in the head and the brain in the chest. Then we would think with love and love with wisdom

A reflection that leads us to value the need for emotion and reason to go hand in hand.

12. What if instead of planning so much we flew a little higher?

Mafalda questions the fact that we do not dare to go further in our dreams and ambitions, limiting ourselves to acting on the basis of self-imposed limits.

13. Yes, I know, there are more problemologists than solutionologists, but what are we going to do to him?

In this sentence, Mafalda criticizes the fact that most people tend to limit themselves to complaining about reality and pointing out what is wrong, and very few pretend to seek solutions.

14. We have men of principle, it’s a pity they never let them go beyond the beginning

In today’s society, values and principles are often trampled on and ignored out of interest, restricting and not allowing those who try to act according to them to move forward.

15. And is it not the case that in this world there are more and more people and fewer people?

Criticism to the progressive dehumanization of society , focused on the economic and competitive aspects and less and less concerned about their fellow men.

16. Your mockery checks have no funds in the bank of my mind

Mockery and the attempt by others to harm us need not make a dent in us.

17. The bad thing about the mass media is that they don’t leave us time to communicate with each other

The excess of information available through the big media often makes us forget the importance of communicating with others or even with ourselves.

18. It’s not that there is no goodness, it’s just that it’s incognito

Goodness is a concept that we can apply in our daily lives, although in recent times it rarely appears in a selfless way.

19. Start your day with a smile and you’ll see how much fun it is to go around mismatching with everyone

He criticizes the excessive rigidity, seriousness and sadness that most people show, not being so frequent to find expressions of joy in our daily life.

20. Let those who are tired of seeing the world handled with their feet raise their hands!

This is where the discontent about the way things are and the way global society is handled is expressed.

21. The problem with closed minds is that they always have their mouths open

Those who are less flexible and more intolerant tend to continuously reflect and perpetuate their ideas, trying to impose them on others.

22. In this family there are no bosses, we are a cooperative

This sentence criticizes the traditional patriarchal model , in which the man is seen as the head of the family.

23. If you don’t do stupid things when you are young, you have nothing to smile about when you are old

A phrase that encourages us to enjoy youth and not to take things too seriously at this stage of life, as well as to experience and live new things and/or things that make us enjoy.

24. Some love me for who I am, others hate me for the same reason, but I came into this life to try to be happy…not to please anyone!

We must forget and stop caring what others think about us and how we are and focus on living freely, in our own way.

25. The bad thing about the big human family is that everyone wants to be the father

This phrase expresses that everyone wants to command and impose their way of acting and their points of view, which is why conflicts between people, countries and cultures are born.

26. The papers make up half of what they say. And if we add that they don’t say half of what happens, it turns out that newspapers don’t exist

This is a criticism of the manipulation and lack of veracity of many media.

27. As always: the urgent leaves no time for the important

We are in a very demanding society in which we constantly have something to do and end it quickly, often leaving aside aspects that are vital to us or forgetting to deal with aspects that, although they may be in the minority, are nevertheless of great importance.

28. Did you ever think that if it weren’t for everyone, no one would be anything?

Mafalda makes us see that although we can go far in life, the fact of doing so is largely due to the contribution or effect of those and what surrounds us.

29. They say that man is an animal of habit, but rather that man is an animal of habit

Reflection on the cruelty and stubbornness of human beings.

30. Did you gain five pounds since last summer? Well, millions of people couldn’t get fat because they didn’t have anything to eat. But I guess you need to be comforted and not feel so stupid

Concern about the figure is something that obsesses today’s developed societies, but it does not take into account that a large part of humanity is starving and dying of starvation.

31. It is always late when the joy is bad

Mafalda expresses a somewhat pessimistic view of reality, as we can see in this sentence which is opposed to the popular saying.

32. I don’t walk around disheveled but my hair has freedom of expression

This is a phrase that can express both a criticism of the absence of freedom of expression and the existence of the consideration that anything can be done under it.

33. Wouldn’t it be more progressive to ask where we are going to continue, rather than where we are going to end up?

Through the language Mafalda expresses the need to make things flow and continue instead of focusing on giving them an end.

34. It is not true that all time spent was better. What was happening was that those who were worse still hadn’t realized it

We must try not to mythicize the past. This one is often remembered with nostalgia , without taking into account that at that time there were also different difficulties.

35. Don’t put off until tomorrow trying to fit in what you have to do today

Not very subtle criticism of the tendency to look for someone to save us work by doing what we should do ourselves.

36. I would like to congratulate the countries that are leading world politics. So I hope that there will be reasons

Mafalda expresses her discontent with how the world and politics work today.

37. Working for a living – but why should one waste that life that one earns by working for a living?

Mafalda wonders why we centralize so much of life around the world of work and ignore or downplay other aspects as important or more important as enjoyment or personal relationships.

38. It’s funny, you close your eyes and the world disappears

We are often too focused on what surrounds us, on the demands of work and society, on what they will think about… but in the end it will be us who live our life and we must live it at our own pace.

39. Better go and have a look, and if there is freedom, justice and those things wake me up no matter what the number of the world is, are we?

A sentence that reflects that today the world is still full of injustice , which we have to fight to achieve a better world.

40. The bad thing about reports is that you have to answer in the moment to a journalist everything that you did not know how to answer yourself in your whole life… And on top of that they pretend that you are intelligent

This phrase expresses the fact that there is a great deal that we do not know about ourselves or that we do not dare to consider, and that when they are pointed out they surprise us.

41. Let’s sound, boys! It turns out that if you don’t hurry to change the world, then it’s the world that changes you

This phrase pushes us to not conform and to fight to change what we consider unjust.

42. No one can knead a fortune without making flour for others

This phrase expresses a criticism of the way of stepping and using others to achieve benefits that is still used today.

43. I would say that we should all be happy without asking why

Happiness and joy need not have an ulterior motive for existence or demand an explanation.

44. In all parts of the world the law of compensation has worked very well; he who raises his voice has his cane lowered

This phrase from Mafalda talks about the risk involved in protesting against what is established because of the punishment it may entail.

45. Wouldn’t the world be beautiful if libraries were more important than banks?

This sentence criticizes the excessive value we give to money and the little importance that is really given to knowledge.

46. Of course money is not everything, there are also checks

Again, an acid criticizes the excessive importance given to money and economic wealth , so that it seems to be all that matters.

47. Life should not throw you out of childhood without first getting you a good position in youth

It expresses the need to be able to be a child and have basic aspects such as sustenance or education guaranteed in order to be able to develop into adulthood.

48. There is never a shortage of leftovers

There is always going to be something or someone we don’t like and who opposes what we believe or do.

49. In the end, humanity is nothing more than a sandwich of flesh between heaven and earth

A small reflection that puts us all on the same level: we are all people, no more and no less .

50. Smile! It’s free and relieves headache

Mafalda encourages us to try to be happy instead of over worrying and thinking about everything.