Humor and wisdom: Mafalda's best quotes for life

Mafalda Quino is one of the most widely known names in Latin America and several European countries since 1964, and with good reason. This press strip was created by the unforgettable Argentine cartoonist and graphic humorist Joaquín Salvador Lavado Tejón, better known as "Quino." His work, starring the eponymous girl, is a mirror of the country's middle class and the progressive youth of the time.

Its publication - which took place on September 29, 1964, in the magazine Front page, until June 25, 1973, in the weekly Seven days- It became very popular thanks to Mafalda's antics, given her concern for humanity and world peace.In honor of that, we've rounded up some of the wisest quotes from this clever little girl.

Mafalda's ideal world

Within the own comic books In Quino's novel, Mafalda is presented as a girl born on March 15, 1960 or March 15, 1962. She represents the ideological and utopian aspiration of making this world a better place.However, at the same time, she is surrounded by concern and pessimism, due to the sociopolitical and environmental situation of the planet during her childhood.

However, All this is done through a naive attitude that causes an irrevocable tenderness in readers.It is clear that Mafalda is a nihilist, but not consciously, but because of her very condition as a human being. This is how, through her phrases, the girl confronts injustice, evil and humanity's incompetence in solving hunger and war.

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The best and wisest quotes from Mafalda

• "If living is lasting, I prefer a Beatles song to a Boston Pops Long Play";
• «In this family there are no bosses, we are a cooperative»;
• "We're done, boys! It turns out that if you don't hurry up and change the world, then the world changes you";
• "Since it's such a hassle to change the structures... couldn't we at least give them a little paint job? Or not even that?"
• "If you don't do stupid things when you're young, you have nothing to smile about when you're old."
• "Beans are cooked everywhere, but no one dares to strangle the maitre d'";
• "As always: the urgent leaves no time for the important";
• "No one can amass a fortune without making flour of others":
• "I'm not disheveled, but my hair has freedom of expression";
• "It is not true that all times past were better. What happened was that those who were worse off had not yet realized it."
• "What do the years matter? What really matters is to realize that, after all, the best age in life is to be alive."
• "Working to earn a living. But why should one waste the life one earns by working to earn a living?"
• "What if instead of planning so much we flew a little higher?"
• "Yes, I know, there are more problemologists than solutionologists, but what are we going to do about it?"
• "It's not that there is no goodness, it's just that it is incognito";
• «Start your day with a smile and you'll see how much fun it is to go around being out of step with everyone else»;
• "The checks of your mockery have no funds in the bank of my soul";
• "We have men of principle, it's a pity that they are never allowed to go beyond the principle";
• "I would say that we should all be happy without asking why";
• "Raise your hand if you're tired of seeing the world run by feet!"
• "The law of compensation has worked very well in all parts of the world; those who raise their voices are lowered."
• "Wouldn't the world be beautiful if libraries were more important than banks?"
• "Of course money isn't everything, there are also checks";
• "The problem with closed minds is that they always have their mouths open";
• «Life should not throw one out of childhood without first securing for one a good position in youth»;
• "There is always someone who is not needed";
• «Some love me for who I am, others hate me for the same reason, but I came to this life to try to be happy...not to please anyone!»;
• "Could it be that this modern life is becoming more modern than life-like?"
• «In the end, humanity is nothing more than a meat sandwich between heaven and earth»;
• «Life is beautiful, the bad thing is that many confuse beautiful with easy»;
• “Smile! It’s free and it relieves headaches”;
• "Where do they sell cheap mistakes? Mine have cost me a lot...";
• "Stop the world, I want to get off!"
• «Newspapers make up half of what they say. And if we add to that the fact that they don't say half of what happens, it turns out that newspapers don't exist»;
• "The bad thing about the big human family is that everyone wants to be the father";
• "The brilliant answer always comes to us 5 minutes after we give a stupid answer";
• "Did you ever think that if it weren't for everyone, no one would be anything?"
• "The ideal would be to have the heart in the head and the brain in the chest. In this way we would think with love and love with wisdom."
• "Isn't it amazing what a pencil can hold?"
• "Do we send a father every day to get this back from that damn office?"
• "They say that man is a creature of habit, or rather, man is an animal of habit";
• "Half the world loves dogs, and to this day no one knows what woof means."
• "Some people have not understood that the Earth revolves around the sun, not around them";
• "Have you gained two kilos since last summer? Well, millions of people couldn't gain weight because they had nothing to eat. But I guess you need some comfort and not to feel so stupid."
• "As always, the fun is over as soon as you set foot on the ground."
• «The problem is that there are more interested people than interesting people»;
• "It is always late when happiness is bad";
• "And isn't it that in this world there are more and more people and fewer people?"
• "What is the point in the end? Are you moving forward with your life, or is life moving ahead of you?"
• "The bad thing about mass media is that it doesn't leave us time to communicate with ourselves";
• "From time to time it is a good idea to let your instincts out for a walk";
• "I would like to congratulate the countries that lead world politics. So I hope that there will be reasons to do so."
• "Dad, could you explain to me why humanity works so poorly?"
• "Wouldn't it be more progressive to ask where we are going to continue, rather than where we are going to end up?"
• "Doesn't it hurt you a little to call the country underdeveloped? And what do you want me to say? An amateur country";
• "It's funny, you close your eyes and the world disappears";
• "The problem with closed minds is that they always have their mouths open";
• «Better go take a look, and if there is freedom, justice and those things, whatever the world number is, what are we doing?»
• "Where should we push this country to move forward?"
• "The bad thing about reporting is that you have to answer a journalist on the spot everything you've never been able to answer yourself in your entire life... And on top of that, they expect you to look intelligent."

About the Author

Joaquín Salvador Lavado Tejón was born on July 17, 1932, in Mendoza, Argentina. His uncle Joaquín —after whom the author was called Quino to differentiate their names— was responsible for awakening the artist's vocation. After the death of his mother, he began studying at the School of Fine Arts. Later, when Badger was sixteen, his father died.

He later abandoned Fine Arts to become a comic book author. Although he quickly sold his first work, he did not have much success with the following ones.He then entered compulsory military service until 1954. He immediately settled in Buenos Aires and began working on various campaigns, including that of the Mansfield household appliance company.

It was precisely for this company that he created the character that would make him world famous: Mafalda. However, the campaign was never carried out, so the first story of this irreverent little girl ended up seeing the light of day in Leoplan. His next appearances were in the weekly Front page and the newspaper El Mundo. Following its success, it was translated into more than thirty languages.

Other publications by Quino

• Quino's World (1963);
• Don't yell at me (1972);
• If I were you… (1973);
• Fine thanks and you? (1976);
• Pocket Men (1977);
• People on your site (1978);
• To the good table (1980);
• Neither art nor part (1981);
• Let me invent (1983);
• Quinotherapy (1985);
• Yes darling (1987);
• Powerful, arrogant and impotent (1989);
• Human is born (1991);
• I did not go (1994);
• Little stories and other alterations (1995);
• How bad people are! (1996);
• How much kindness! (1999);
• This is not everything (compilation) (2002);
• What an unpresentable present! (2005);
• The adventure of eating (2007);
• All Mafalda (2007);
• Who's there? (2012);
• Simply Quino (2016)