Rafael Alberti (Cádiz, 1902 – 1999) was one of the great Spanish writers, representing the Generation of 27.

This writer from Cádiz was a member of the Spanish Communist Party and had to go into exile after the uprising that brought the dictator Francisco Franco to power. Years ago, in 1920, Rafael Alberti began writing poetry after the death of his father. From then on, Alberti would stand out as one of the most prolific Spanish authors of the 20th century.

Phrases and famous quotes from Rafael Alberti

Shortly after that disastrous episode, Alberti returns to Madrid and there he meets writers of the stature of Federico García Lorca, Pedro Salinas, Víctor Alexandre and Gerardo Diego, names that would later be considered the benchmarks of the glorious era of Castilian letters.

In today’s article we will get to know a little more about this famous character of literature , through his most famous phrases and reflections.

1. I don’t want to die on the ground: I’m terribly afraid. I love to fly in an airplane and see the clouds go by, and I would like that one day the airplane in which I travel gets lost and doesn’t come back. And that the angels would give me an epitaph. Or the wind…

In this sentence, Rafael Alberti explains in a poetic way how he would prefer to spend his last moments.

2. Words open doors on the sea

A metaphor of great poetic value.

3. I left with my fist clenched… I return with an open hand

This famous phrase by Alberti has been interpreted in different ways, for example in reference to his time in exile.

4. Freedom is not for those who do not have their thirst

To find freedom, one must fight and resist.

5. You will not go, my love, and if you were to go, even if you were to go, my love, you would never go

An excerpt from one of his most acclaimed poems: “You will not leave (or Come, my love, in the evening…)”.

6. Full of softness and carmine,

dream beacon, lazy and flying,

flew to the highest viewpoints.

Look at the cherub of cherubs,

from the orchard’s push-button.

Alberti’s thoughtfulness among the flowers!

An extract from the poem he dedicated to his wife, Rosa de Alberti.

7.I will never be made of stone, I will cry when I have to, I will shout when I have to, I will laugh when I have to, I will sing when I have to

A declaration of intent full of vitality and optimism.

8. It is necessary to be blind, to have as if in our eyes glass scraps, quicklime, boiling sand, so as not to see the light that jumps in our acts, that illuminates inside our tongue, our daily word

An ode to language in this memorable phrase by Rafael Alberti.

9. I saw you floating, flower of agony, floating on your very spirit. (Someone had sworn that the sea would save you from sleep.) That’s when I saw that walls break with sighs and that there are doors to the sea that open with words and that there are doors to the sea that open with words

Another extract from “Angel of the Wineries”, one of his most surprising verses in which he talks about wine.

10. And the sea went and gave the wind a name, and the clouds a body, and the fire a soul. The earth, nothing

The elements and the landscape were very much worked on in Alberti’s work.

11. Life is like a lemon, to be thrown into the sea squeezed and dry

One sentence to be freely interpreted.

12. Through the centuries, through the nothingness of the world, I, without sleep, looking for you

About lost loves and the longing to return to happier times.