Modern stupidity means not ignorance but the nonthought of received ideas

The combination of a frivolous form and a serious subject immediately unmasks the truth about our dramas.

He was no longer quite sure whether anything he had ever thought or felt was truly his own property, or whether his thoughts were merely a common part of the world’s store of ideas which had always existed ready-made and which people only borrowed, like books from a library.

The day after his father left, Franz and his mother went into town together, and as they left home Franz noticed that her shoes did not match. He was in a quandary: he wanted to point out the mistake, but was afraid he would hurt her. So, during the two hours they spent walking through the city together he kept his eyes focused on her feet. It was then he had his first inkling of what it means to suffer.

She is sadder and sadder, and for a man there is no balm more soothing than the sadness he has caused a woman.

In her presence I could dare everything: sincerity, emotion, pathos.

When a private talk over a bottle of wine is broadcast on the radio, what can it mean but that the world is turning into a concentration camp?