The best quotes from Mafalda and her gang
The top 3 according to 6 votes from people: Stop the world, I want to get off · As always: the urgent leaves no time for the important · Why did I, of all people, have to end up being like me?. (Updated Jan 27, 2025.)
The most memorable lines from Quino's comic strips (1964-1973), by Mafalda and by Felipe, Manolito, Susanita, Miguelito, Libertad and Guille, as collected on Wikiquote. Beware of the ones going around online: many are not by Quino.
Automatically translated (original in Español). See the original
Top 12
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1
Stop the world, I want to get off
Mafalda's most famous line, a motto for several generations.
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2
As always: the urgent leaves no time for the important
Mafalda on the eternal struggle between the urgent and the important.
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3
Why did I, of all people, have to end up being like me?
Felipe, the dreamiest and most insecure of the gang.
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4
What if, before starting what we have to do, we start what we should have already done?
Felipe, an expert at putting off his homework.
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5
The cheques of your mockery bounce at the bank of my spirits
Manolito answering mockery in shopkeeper's language.
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6
It's not true that the past was always better. It's just that those who were worse off hadn't realized it yet
Mafalda debunking nostalgia.
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7
So how does it work in the end? Do we carry our life forward, or does life run us over?
One of Mafalda's big existential questions.
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8
It's funny: you close your eyes and the world disappears
Mafalda discovering philosophy with her eyes closed.
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9
I love humanity, it's people I can't stand
One of the most quoted lines of the strip; Wikiquote lists it among Susanita's.
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10
My husband will be tall, dark and motherless, and nothing will ever come between us
Susanita, obsessed with getting married and having kids.
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11
Nobody can make a fortune without grinding others into flour
Manolito, the grocer's son, and his take on business.
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12
A flea can't bite a locomotive, but it can cover the driver in bites
Libertad, Mafalda's tiny revolutionary friend.
Candidates
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13
I don't know how people would leave if they didn't have backs
Miguelito and his impossible reasoning.
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14
I would say that we should all be happy without asking why
Miguelito and his philosophy of happiness.
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15
Today I entered the world through the back door
Mafalda, on one of those days when everything starts out wrong.
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16
The other days I read in the newspaper how the Ford Lotus gearbox works and I didn't understand a thing either.
Felipe and his struggle with reading.
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17
What do I do with the little hole I feel inside me when I'm not
Guille, Mafalda's little brother, with his half tongue.
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18
Wouldn't it be more progressive to ask where we'll go on, instead of where we'll end up?
Mafalda, always worried about where the world is heading.
How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.
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Comments (9)
La de Manolito con la harina es la mejor jajaja
Faltan las de Guille, el hermanito, que son lo más tierno.
Quino es un genio, crecí leyendo los libritos de mi papá.
La de Felipe y la caja de cambios del Ford Lotus me hace reír siempre
Qué lindo encontrar las frases bien atribuidas, en internet le ponen a Mafalda cualquier cosa.
Susanita es lo más 😂
Paren el mundo que me quiero bajar, frase de todos los lunes.
Mafalda sigue siendo actual 60 años después, eso dice mucho.
Y la de Miguelito de ponerse todos contentos sin preguntar por qué.