"The huge church is burrowed into ancient mountains. By elevator you rise up through the mountain to the foot of a giant cross that soars nearly 500 feet into an intense blue sky, its arms spreading 300 feet. The four Evangelists who crouched at the base are 28 feet high, carved out of stone. All Spain comes to the Valley of the Fallen for its moment of meditation. It is a wondrous work, but it never lets you forget that it marks one of man's most ghastly works—war. But war—like all pain—is soon forgotten. New generations are born. And in you see families together, voluble, chattering, touching each other, husbands, wives, children. They smile at each other, and at you. And you smile back. For that is the true Madrid. It embraces you. It loves you. Soon, you love it back."
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Academics from the United StatesColumnists from the United StatesEditors from the United StatesBiographers from the United StatesNovelists from New York City
Original Language: English
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From "Madrid: The City Simpatico," in Boys' Life (February 1970), p. 76
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Arnold_Hano
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Arnold Hano
Arnold Philip Hano ((March 2, 1922 – October 24, 2021) was an American editor, novelist, biographer and journalist, best known for his non-fiction work, A Day in the Bleachers, a critically acclaimed e
38 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Arnold Hano →
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