"“He is a lesser figure than X”—how it pleases an Englishman to say that! Never suspecting what basement that would put him in, a wood louse."

Elias Canetti Literature See all quotes by Elias Canetti →

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“Whenever the truth threatens, he hides behind a thought.”

“Nothing was better for you than humiliation, for there was nothing you felt more deeply.”

“His great holy books, which he does not know. They are so holy that he does not dare to open them.”

“If one has lived long enough, there is danger of succumbing to the word “God” merely because it was always there.”

“He sometimes tells himself that there is nothing more to be said, simply because he won’t get around to saying it.—How contemptible!”

“Say the most personal thing, say it, nothing else matters, don’t be ashamed, the generalities can be found in the newspaper.”

Resonant Thoughts

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Entertainment1901–1966

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— Joscha Bach

Philosophy1973

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"The man who abides in the will of God wills nothing else than what God is, and what He wills. If he were ill he would not wish to be well. If he really abides in God's will, all pain is to him a joy, …"

— Meister Eckhart

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