If there is one thing the movie “That Thing Called Tadhana” has put in the forefront once again, it is the popularity of hugot lines among Filipinos. Hugot lines are statements that are derived from (mostly) romantic movies, teleseryes, books or spoken by famous people, about life and love and everything in between. This day, the 14th of February, in my opinion, is the height of hugot lines craziness. Single ladies (hello, Spanish classmates I had lunch with earlier!) are prone to think of the shoulda coulda woulda situations and are inclined to discuss these things at length (we did not do this earlier, we had more stimulating things to discuss). We can quote immortal lines from “One More Chance” or “Starting Over Again” and just recently, we can deliver Mace’s lines from “That Thing Called Tadhana” with aplomb. But I will not quote any hugot lines from any of those movies, instead I will write what I think are the equivalent of hugot lines in Spanish.

A short backstory: On Monday, I bought spherical-shaped chocolates packed inside heart-shaped containers for my classmates in Spanish whom I see every Saturday. Yesterday, I cut out heart shaped “cards” from red papers. I was supposed to write ¡Feliz Día de San Valentín! on each one, but I changed my mind and decided to write famous love quotes in Spanish because well, it was for those who are learning the language. I typed “spanish love quotes” and Google showed me this site, www.donquijote.org. Who would be a better guy to talk about love than Don Quijote? So I copied almost all of the quotes. Some of them are as follows:

La medida del amor es amar sin medida. The measure of love is to love without measuring. - San Agustín

Entre lo que existe y lo que no existe, el espacio es el amor. The space between what exists and what doesn’t is love. - Anónimo

El amor, como ciego que es, impide a los amantes ver las divertidas tonterías que cometen. Love is blind, it stops lovers seeing the silly things they do. - William Shakespeare

El verdadero amor no es el que perdona nuestros defectos, sino el que no los conoce. True love is not whoever forgives our flaws, but whoever doesn’t know them. - J. Benavente

El amor es el único tesoro que no se saca con pico y pala. Love is the only treasure you don’t dig out with a shovel. - Pedro Cruz López (at first glance, I thought it was Penélope Cruz)

El amor nace de un flechazo; la amistad del intercambio frecuente y prolongado. Love is born at first sight; the friendship of a frequent and lengthy exchange. - Octavio Paz

Siempre que haya un hueco en tu vida, llénalo con amor. So long as there’s a gap in your life, fill it with love. - Amado Nervo

¿Sufre más aquél que espera siempre que aquél que nunca esperó a nadie? Does the person who always waited suffer more than he who never waited for anyone. - Pablo Neruda

Es tan corto el amor y es tan largo el olvido. Love is so short but forgetting is so long. -Pablo Neruda

No puede ser bueno aquél que nunca ha amado. He who’s never loved cannot be good. - Miguel de Cervantes

I took a cab on my way home. The driver bought one long-stemmed rose from a street vendor for P80.00 (US $1.81) which he would give to his eight-year wife. I thought it was sweet of him and he perpetuates the notion that “basta driver, sweet lover” (thank you, Espe!) so I decided to give him my last chocolate bar (which I gave to random strangers on this day). He gave me one of the sincerest salamat (thank you) I have received for something so simple. We talked some more and I suggested that he buy his wife some balloons. He agreed. He added that he would buy a small chocolate roll on his way home.

¡Feliz Día de San Valentín! Happy Valentine´s Day! Maligayang Araw ng mga Puso!