What makes books - and with them writers - so dangerous that church and state, politburos and the mass media feel the need to oppose them?

If Jesus had been a hunchback, they could hardly have nailed him to the cross.

Where man had been, in every place he left, garbage remained. Even in his pursuit of the ultimate truth and quest for his God, he produced garbage. By his garbage, which lay stratum upon stratum, he could always - one had only to dig - be known. For more long-lived than man is his refuse. Garbage alone lives after him.

I was assigned to the Waffen-SS but was never involved in any crime. Besides, I always felt the need to write about my experiences in a larger context one day. This has only developed recently, now that I have overcome my inner aversion to writing an autobiography in the first place, specifically one having to do with my younger years.

We already have the statistics for the future: the growth percentages of pollution, overpopulation, desertification. The future is already in place.

The patience of poverty. In rice fields, backs bent forever. Amazing, man outoxens the oxen and still smiles. The mystery of India, say Indologists.

What makes books - and with them writers - so dangerous that church and state, politburos and the mass media feel the need to oppose them?