"If one takes the path of success, then one ends up either successful or unsuccessful, there is no third alternative."

Imre Kertész Literature See all quotes by Imre Kertész →

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“You just sit here and tolerate it, the same way everything in this country is tolerated. Every deception, every lie, every bullet in the brains. Just as you are already tolerating bullets in the brains that will be implemented only after the bullet is put in your brains.”

“Man, when reduced to nothing, or in other words a survivor, is not tragic but comic, because he has no fate.”

“Man is always a little at fault, that’s all.”

“At any rate I found myself writing because I had to write, although I didn’t know why.”

“Anyone who wants something else is Jewish.”

“I am sick of atrocities, though these are now the natural order of our world. And I would still like to act!”

Resonant Thoughts

"Frankly, I cannot conceive how any thoughtful man can really be happy. There is really nothing in the universe to live for, and unless one can dismiss thought and speculation from his mid, he is liabl…"

— H. P. Lovecraft

Literature1890–1937

#happiness

"Decades of providing technology in growing volume and at decreasing costs have driven great gains for developing nations, communities and people worldwide, but there is still much to do."

— Paul Otellini

Politics1950–2017

#success

"Ted, I noted, was very busy - at the pumps, at the glasses behind, the bottles below, the merrily ringing till, like a percussion-player in some modern work who dashes with confidence from xylophone t…"

— Anthony Burgess

Music1917–1993

#success

"Struggles between nations and struggles between classes we shall surely have during the coming decades. All indications point to further wars between nations. The struggle between capital and labor is…"

— Kirby Page

Politics1890–1957

#success