Quotes from Peter Altenberg

God thinks within geniuses, dreams within poets, and sleeps within the rest of us.

God thinks in the geniusses, he dreams in the poets and slumbers in the rest of humanity.

It is sad to be an exception. But not to be one is even sadder.

Art is life, life is life, but to lead life artistically is the art of life.

There are only two things that can destroy a healthy [hu]man: love trouble, ambition, and financial catastrophe. And that's already three things, and there are a lot more.

For a man the whole world is his love. For a woman love is her whole world.

There are only two things that can destroy a healthy man: love trouble, ambition, and financial catastrophe. And that's already three things, and there are a lot more.

It is sad to be an exception. But not to be one is even sadder.

I never dreamed of being Shakespeare or Goethe, and I never expected to hold the great mirror of truth up before the world; I dreamed only of being a little pocket mirror, the sort that a woman can carry in her purse; one that reflects small blemishes, and some great beauties, when held close enough to the heart.

For a man the whole world is his love. For a woman love is her whole world.

Art is art and life is life, but to live life artistically; that is the art of life

God thinks within geniuses, dreams within poets, and sleeps within the rest of us.

There are only two things that can destroy a healthy [hu]man: love trouble, ambition, and financial catastrophe. And that's already three things, and there are a lot more.

I checked into the quiet little room on the fifth floor of the good old Stadthotel with two pairs of socks and two large bottles of slivovitz for unseen eventualities.

The young woman thought: "You've got to be old or mad. But we stayed too young. Is it any fault of ours? We still soak up the juices like a sapling. We rob nature just to exist. Oh and by the way, the earth still has a molten middle, and its chimneys sometimes spew forth and bury places blossoming with life. Isn't that so? Bane of my existence, fire of my soul, Edgar, my beloved, you keep me young, don't let me grow old!