It is, all in all, a historic error to believe that the master makes the school; the students make it!
Robert MusilHe who is allowed to do as he likes will soon run his head into a brick wall out of sheer frustration.
Robert MusilAnd what would you do, ... if you could rule the world for a day? I suppose I would have no choice but to abolish reality.
Robert Musil... for the modern soul, for which it is mere child's play to bridge oceans and continents, there is nothing so impossible as to find the contact with the souls dwelling just around the corner.
Robert MusilAnd since the possession of qualities presupposes that one takes a certain pleasure in their reality, all this gives us a glimpse of how it may all of a sudden happen to someone who cannot summon up any sense of reality — even in relation to himself — that one day he appears to himself as a man without qualities.
Robert Musil