Quotes from Stefan Zweig

el derecho impone también deberes y que el amor más puro acaba por fatigarse si no se siente correspondido.

But you wouldn't believe what a dead finger does to a living hand.

The woman has a dangerous decision to confront, whether she will live her own life, or that of her children, whether she will be a woman first or a mother first.

Leía como otros rezan... Leía con un ensimismamiento tan impresionante que desde entonces cualquier otra persona a la que yo haya visto leyendo me ha parecido un ser profano.

Alles nach dem ist Ernüchterung, Abschattung nach diesem Rausch von Farben und Formen, nach der göttlichen Vielfalt dieser Stadt.

DeÄŸerli olan her zaman için gerçeÄŸin yar?s? deÄŸil, tamam?d?r.

The instinct for self-deception in human beings makes them try to banish from their minds dangers of which at bottom they are perfectly aware by declaring them non-existent.

Y es que en la Tierra, el ejemplo es la ligazón más fuerte entre los hombres; toda acción despierta en los demás la voluntad de actuar con rectitud, de salir del sopor de la somnolencia y de llenar las horas de actividad.

Only the man who remains free from all and everything augments and sustains freedom on this earth.

the soul cannot remain at peace when the world beyond is in uproar.

Gratitude is a rare frame of mind; and those who are grateful can seldom find a way to express what they feel. They are overwhelmed by silence; are shamefaced; and, sometimes, actually try to hide their feelings.

should judge the aptitude of a child not by his memory but by the testimony of his life… Let the young man read and sift and verify, not just accept the authority in good faith. A rich variety of opinions must be presented to him. He will make his choice, and if he cannot, then he will remain in doubt. He who sheep-like follows another follows nothing. He discovers nothing, because he seeks nothing.

He felt a kind of bridal expectation, sweet and sensuous yet vaguely mingled with anticipatory fear of its own fulfilment, with the mysterious shiver felt when something endlessly desired suddenly comes physically close to the astonished heart.

Elizabeth set an example to the monarchs of her day and of subsequent epochs, in that she never arrogated to herself the position of ruler of England, but assumed the more modest role of administrator, of carrier-out of the folk-will, of servitor to the national mission; she understood the trends of the epoch that was emerging from an autocratic regime into a constitutional regime.

The most just death is that which is most willed. Our lives depend on the will of others, but death on ourselves alone. There is nothing to which we should apply ourselves more than this. Reputation has no place here and it is folly to think of it. Life is servitude if we lack the freedom to die.

Death is a certain refuge, never to be feared"; "Strong diseases require strong remedies", writes Montaigne

In 1938, after Austria, our universe had become accustomed to inhumanity, to lawlessness, and brutality as never in centuries before. In a former day the occurrences in unhappy Vienna alone would have been sufficient to cause international proscription, but in 1938 the world conscience was silent or merely muttered surlily before it forgot and forgave.

At the moment when his soul brimmed with bitterness and disgust, when his spirit was darkened, he encountered a woman, a stranger… who showed gratitude for this proposal of a special union. She was an invalid, marked for death, eaten away by cancer as Kleist was eaten away by the fatigue of life, and though herself incapable of making a forceful resolution, she was exalted by his passion and agreed to journey with him into the abyss.

what is culture, if not to wheedle from the coarse material of life, by art and love, its finest, its most delicate, its most subtle qualities?

It is my opinion that you should lend yourself to others and give yourself only to yourself.

Yanl?z kalmaya ve kendi ateÅŸimle kavrulmaya daha fazla dayanamayacakt?m. Fakat bütün bak??lar beni yalay?p geçiyordu, kimse varl???m? hissetmek istemiyordu.

Bize hiçbir ÅŸey yap?lmad?, yaln?zca tam bir hiçliÄŸin içine koyulduk, çünkü bilindiÄŸi gibi dünyada hiçbir ÅŸey insan ruhunu hiçlik kadar bask? alt?na alamaz.

ever since he discovered that all his millions could not bring him back his wife, he has learned to despise money.

La paura è peggio del castigo; perché alla fine il castigo è qualcosa di determinato e, sia pesante o meno, è sempre meglio della spaventosa incertezza, della tremenda tensione che si prolunga all'infinito.