Stefan Zweig quotes - page 5

When a dozen men are harnessed to the same cart, one always pulls harder than the others, and when it's a question of promotion and seniority, it's easy to tread on the toes of the man ahead of you. At every word one utters one has to be on one's guard; one's never quite sure whether it isn't going to arouse the disapproval of the big bugs; there's always a storm in the offing. (Stefan Zweig)
The word 'service' comes from serving, and serving means being dependent. View quote
Stefan Zweig
We live through myriads of seconds, but there is only one second among all these myriads which brings our whole inner world to the boil; the second in which, as Stendhal described, there suddenly takes place a crystallization in the supersaturated blood; a magical second like that of procreation, and, like it, hidden in the warm interior of one's own body, invisible, intangible, impalpable, a unique experience of mystery. No algebra of the soul can calculate it; no alchemy can divine it. Usually, even for ourselves, it remains unsearchable. View quote
Stefan Zweig
My father was a schoolmaster in a little North German town, and for the very reason that at home culture was a means of livelihood, I detested learning and literature from childhood onwards. That is nature's way. In pursuance of her mysterious design to safeguard the creative faculty, she is apt to make children scorn their father's bent. She does not want to encourage an easy, effortless acceptance of a heritage, a mere handing down of acquisitions from one generation to the next. She sows the seeds of discord, and will only allow children to follow in their parent's footsteps after they have made laborious but fruitful detours. View quote
Stefan Zweig
There's an inherent limit to the stress that any material can bear. Water has its boiling point, metals their melting points. The elements of the spirit behave the same way. Happiness can reach a pitch so great that any further happiness can't be felt. Pain, despair, humiliation, disgust, and fear are no different. Once the vessel is full, the world can't add to it. View quote
Stefan Zweig
Nothing makes you madder than wanting to defend yourself against something you can't even get hold of, something the human race is doing to you, but still there's nobody you can grab by the throat. View quote
Stefan Zweig
When they are preparing for war, those who rule by force speak most copiously about peace until they have completed the mobilization process. View quote
Stefan Zweig
Every wave, regardless of how high and forceful it crests, must eventually collapse within itself. View quote
Stefan Zweig
Only the misfortune of exile can provide the in-depth understanding and the overview into the realities of the world. View quote
Stefan Zweig
In history, the moments during which reason and reconciliation prevail are short and fleeting. View quote
Stefan Zweig
Fate is never too generous even to its favorites. Rarely do the gods grant a mortal more than one immortal deed. (Stefan Zweig)
It would be foolhardy to count on the conscience of the world. View quote
Stefan Zweig
Today, for a Jew who writes in the German language, it is totally impossible to make a living. In no group do I see as much misery, disappointment, desperation and hopelessness as in Jewish writers who write in German. View quote
Stefan Zweig
Now I am discovering the world once more. England has widened my horizon. View quote
Stefan Zweig
The idea of Jewish unity, of a plan, an organization, unfortunately exists only in the brains of Hitler and Streicher. View quote
Stefan Zweig
Lightly, caressingly, Marie Antoinette picked up the crown as a gift. She was still too young to know that life never gives anything for nothing, and that a price is always exacted for what fate bestows. She did not think she would have to pay a price. She simply accepted the rights of her royal position and performed no duties in exchange. She wanted to combine two things which are, in actual human experience, incompatible; she wanted to reign and at the same time to enjoy. View quote
Stefan Zweig