Herta Müller quotes

I have always written only for myself - to clarify things, to clarify things with myself, to understand in an inner way what is actually happening. (Herta Müller)
When we don't speak, said Edgar, we become unbearable, and when we do, we make fools of ourselves. View quote
Herta Müller
Women always need other women to lean on. They become friends in order to hate each other better. The more they hate each other, the more inseparable they become. View quote
Herta Müller
Anything in literature, including memory, is second-hand. View quote
Herta Müller
I have packed myself into silence so deeply and for so long that I can never unpack myself using words. When I speak, I only pack myself a little differently. View quote
Herta Müller
Half starved humans are really neither masculine nor feminine but genderless, like objects. View quote
Herta Müller
What can't be said can be written. Because writing is a silent act, a labor from the head to the hand. View quote
Herta Müller
Writing itself does not know what it looks like while one is doing it, only when it's finished. View quote
Herta Müller
I simply wanted to go to a place that didn't know who I was. View quote
Herta Müller
The war was still on in January 1945. In their dismay at my being shipped off in the dead of winter to who knows where in Russia, everyone wanted to give me something that might be of use, even if it couldn't be help. Because nothing in the world could possible help. View quote
Herta Müller
Being a stranger is hard, but being a stranger when you're so impossibly close is unbearable. (Herta Müller)
If you live with death threats, you need friends. So you have to risk that they might spy on you. View quote
Herta Müller
I was my own thief, the words came out of nowhere and caught me. View quote
Herta Müller
How can you face the world if all you can say about yourself is that you're hungry. If you can't think of anything else. View quote
Herta Müller
Hunger devours nearly all the artistry. View quote
Herta Müller
I don't know if I can't sleep because I am trying to recall the objects, or whether I struggle to recall them because I can't sleep. View quote
Herta Müller
There's an unspoken law that you should never start to cry if you have too many reasons to do so. View quote
Herta Müller
No novels, since you just read them once and never again. View quote
Herta Müller
The real secret is why love starts out with claws like a cat and then fades with time like a half-eaten mouse. View quote
Herta Müller
The time for eating otrach orach is over. But not the hunger, which is always greater than we are. View quote
Herta Müller
There (Kaschau) the mountains stare down through our heads until we die. (Herta Müller)
You go out for a walk and the world opens up for you. And before you've even stretched your legs properly, it closes shut. For here to there it's all just the farty sputter of lantern. And they call that having lived. It's not worth the bother of putting on your shoes. View quote
Herta Müller
The world is not a costume ball. View quote
Herta Müller
If you don't have the right things, you improvise. the wrong things become necessary. Then the necessary things turn out to be the only right things, simply because they're what you have. View quote
Herta Müller
A lot of people think packing a suitcase is something you learn through practice, like singing or praying. View quote
Herta Müller