Elias Canetti
Elias Canetti
Elias Canettiwas a German language author, born in Bulgaria, and later a British citizen. He was a modernist novelist, playwright, memoirist and non-fiction writer. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1981, "for writings marked by a broad outlook, a wealth of ideas and artistic power"...
NationalitySwiss
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth25 July 1905
CountrySwitzerland
acceptance self want
The self- explorer, whether he wants to or not, becomes the explorer of everything else. He learns to see himself, but suddenly, provided he was honest, all the rest appears, and it is as rich as he was, and, as a final crowning, richer.
men
Most religions do not make men better, only warier.
believe goal condescension-and
Almost Kien was tempted to believe in happiness, that contemptible life-goal of illiterates. If it came of itself, without being hunted for, if you did not hold it fast by force and treated it with a certain condescension, it was permissible to endure its presence for a few days
force superlatives destructive
There emanates from superlatives a destructive force.
lying
Someone who always has to lie discovers that every one of his lies is true
children
A child. . . opens and closes like a blossom.
english-words language concentration
Of all the words in all languages I know, the greatest concentration is in the English word I.
home heartless looks
Travelling, one accepts everything; indignation stays at home. One looks, one listens, one is roused to enthusiasm by the most dreadful things because they are new. Good travellers are heartless.
fear prejudice transformation
One has a prejudice wherever one fears a transformation.
should-have justice literature
Justice requires that everyone should have enough to eat. But it also requires that everyone should contribute to the production of food.
men want able
There is nothing that man fears more than the touch of the unknown. He wants to see what is reaching towards him, and to be able to recognize or at least classify it. Man always tends to avoid physical contact with anything strange.
decision disaster ifs
Every decision is liberating, even if it leads to disaster.
lasts speak sentences
Speak as though it were the last sentence allowed you.
advice
Explain nothing. Put it there. Say it. Leave.