In the course of writing one historical book or another, it has happened that I could hardly restrain myself from simply copying entire documents. Indeed, I sometimes sank down among the documents and said to myself, I can't improve on these.

I read like the flame reads the wood.

Cultivate your Futurism. I'll cultivate my Döblinism.

One encounters very capable fathers abashed by their piano-playing daughters. Three measures of Schumann make them red with embarrassment.

And if you ask again whether there is any justice in the world, you'll have to be satisfied with the reply: Not for the time being; at any rate, not up to this Friday.

Writing is not chewing your nails and picking your teeth, but a matter of public interest.

The German Reich is a Republic, and whoever doesn't believe it gets one in the neck.