"I do what I have to do, although I don’t know why I have to."

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

"The mathematician requires tact and good taste at every step of his work, and he has to learn to trust to his own instinct to distinguish between what is really worthy of his efforts and what is not; …"

— James Whitbread Lee Glaisher

Mathematics1848–1928

#knowledge

"Scientists refuse to study astrology, not because of prejudice or because there is a conspiracy afoot, but simply because there is not a shred of evidence that would justify the expenditure of valuabl…"

— Mordechai Ben-Ari

Science1948

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"I know what it is. I know why my other relationships didn't work out, 'cause I'm unpredictable. Why are you afraid of it?"

— Ruslana Korshunova

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"I use the term "liberal" not in the political sense, as if it meant half measures, but in its original sense meaning by a liberal education the kind of education which sets the mind free from the serv…"

— Everett Dean Martin

Philosophy1880–1941

#knowledge