I

- No debería uno contar nunca nada, ni dar datos ni aportar historias... 
(Javier Marías)

- This sentence must be taken in context: it introduces the following paragraph, and indeed the whole book. Taken on its own I do not agree with this sentence. It would make life too lonely. But I am interested in the reasons given for this statement.

- ¿Cuál es tu interés?

- Later in the paragraph he goes on to describe how a story, once told, takes on a life of its own. Whatever story you tell, whatever you say out loud in the presence of another, is now beyond your control. The story will be retold, confidences will almost always be broken. Because at sometime the secrets that you have shared will be used against you. He is wary of even knowing anything. The final sentence sounds a warning, one that finds easy resonance with me: "No, I should not tell or hear anything, because I will never be able to prevent it from being repeated and used against those I love, to condemn them."