Quotes from Thomas Mann

I have enough dignity to squander quite a lot.

In truth, they were all admirable scholars, the masters who taught in the cloisters of the old school — once a monastic foundation — under the guidance of a kindly, snuff-taking old head. They were, to a man, well-meaning and sweet- humoured; and they were one in the belief that knowledge and good cheer are not mutually exclusive.

But beauty, too, is never perfected and for that very reason incites to vanity; for beauty works hard to achieve what it finds lacking in its own self-imposed ideal - yet another error, for beauty's secret actually consists in the attraction that comes from imperfection.

Es gab Zeiten, wo sein radikaler, sein unbedingter Pazifismus mich gequält hat. Er schien bereit, die Herrschaft des Bösen zuzulassen, wenn nur das ihm über alles Verhaßte, der Krieg, dadurch vermieden wurde. Das Problem ist unlösbar. Aber seitdem wir erfahren haben, wie auch ein guter Krieg nichts als Böses zeitigt, denke ich anders über seine Haltung von damals – oder versuche doch, anders darüber zu denken. Thomas Mann über Stefan Zweig

S?r?cia, cum bine se spune, nu este o ruÈ™ine, dar asta-i doar o vorb?. Fiindc? ea este cât se poate de însp?imânt?toare pentru cei ce au parte de ea, pe jum?tate cusur È™i pe jum?tate reproÈ™ nehot?rât, aÈ™adar în totul foarte dezagreabil?, È™i a te amesteca cu ea ar putea avea urm?ri nepl?cute.

I shouldn't be speaking of the present, but rather, perhaps, of the future. When you as Madame So-and-So finally vanish into your proper sphere, one is left to sit on the rocks all the rest of one's life.

It always happens that, directly it has been found wanting and discarded by the poets and philosophers, there comes along a King to whom it is a perfectly new idea, and who makes it a guiding principle. That is what kings are like. It is not only that kings are men – they are even very distinctly average men; they are always a good way in the rear.

Eines will ich Ihnen sagen ... es ist so wahr, daß ich es Ihnen beschwören kann: Ein Mann ist nicht albern, weil er darüber weint, daß Sie nichts von ihm wissen wollen ... das ist es.

whoever tells a story wanders through many stations in his adventures, but only pitches a tent at each, waiting for further directions, and soon feels his own heart pounding, in part out of desire, but in part also out of fear and the apprehension in his bones, yet always as a sign that the road now opens onto new adventures that he must experience precisely, in all their incalculable detail, for that is the will of the restless spirit.

?itaju?i te izjave kod svoje ku?e, konzul se nije mogao suzdržati od smiješka, jer uprkos bola koji se o?itovao u tim rije?ima, osje?ao se je u njima i neki šaljivi ponos. Znao je da je Tony Boddenbrook ostala dijete, i da je svoje vrlo odrasle doživljaje doživljavala najpre kao da pravo ne vjeruje, a onda djetinjasto ozbiljno i dijetinjasto važno, i što je glavno, s djetinjom otpornoš?u.

Kocham i szanuj? sen. Czcz? g??bok?, s?odk?, krzepi?c? rozkosz, jak? daje.

Und das tat er oder glaubte es zun tun, oder glaubte es auch selber nicht recht, oder, noch bedenklicher, es fing an, ihm gleichgültiger zu werden, ob er es tat oder nicht. (Der Zauberberg)

immerse yourself in the great riddle of this dream of life here on earth. It is as nothing since it ends and dissolves into nothingness. Yet everywhere in this nothingness, quickening it to life, the infinite is at hand!

La esperanza, con todo lo engañosa que es, al menos sirve para conducirnos al final de la vida por un camino agradable.

The Sehnsucht motif, a lonely wandering voice in the night, softly uttered its tremulous question. Silence followed, a silence of waiting. And then the answer: the same hesitant, lonely strain, but higher in pitch, more radiant and tender. Silence again. And then

ADeath is to be honored as the cradle of life, the womb of renewal. Once separated from life, it becomes grotesque, a wraith—or even worse. For as an independent spiritual power, death is a very depraved force, whose wicked attractions are very strong and without doubt can cause the most abominable confusion of the human mind

Wenn ein Tag wie alle ist, so sind sie alle wie einer.

Death is to be honored as the cradle of life, the womb of renewal. Once separated from life, it becomes grotesque, a wraith—or even worse. For as an independent spiritual power, death is a very depraved force, whose wicked attractions are very strong and without doubt can cause the most abominable confusion of the human mind.

Prayers and love are learned in the hour when prayer has become impossible and your heart has turned to stone.

And with that she dipped her fourth slice of raisin bread in her coffee.

There is nothing more German than this writer and his life's work - nothing that could be conceivably more German in the old, joyous, free and spiritual sense of the word, the one that has given the German name its best reputation and earned it the gratitude of mankind. - Thomas Mann; about Hermann Hesse

How good, he thinks, that she breathes in oblivion with every breath she draws! That in childhood each night is a deep wide gulf between one day and the next.

kaip lengva b?ti vis? m?gstamam, guviam, linksmam, šauniam ir s?mojingam, sukti galvas moterims, kai tu neturi ko veikti ir esi laisvas kaip paukštis, kada kiti ateina pas mylim?j? po sunkios dienos, pavarg? nuo visoki? r?pes?i? ir nebe?stengia pasirodyti taip, kaip jie nor?t?.

Hans Castorp erfuhr, daß man eine Fertigkeit rasch gewinnt, deren man innerlich bedürftig ist.