E. T. A. Hoffmann famous quotes

Last updated: Sep 5, 2024

There is nothing more marvelous or madder than real life.
-- E. T. A. Hoffmann

#Real #Real Life
Once you are dancing with the devil, the prettiest capers won't help you.
-- E. T. A. Hoffmann

#Dancing #Devil #Helping
Think of the wonderful circles in which our whole being moves and from which we cannot escape no matter how we try. The circler circles in these circles.
-- E. T. A. Hoffmann

#Moving #Thinking #Circles
Is it not in the most absolute simplicity that real genius plies its pinions the most wonderfully?
-- E. T. A. Hoffmann

#Real #Simplicity #Plies
How prone poor Humanity is to dam up the minutest remnants of its freedom, and build an artificial roof to prevent it looking up to the clear blue sky.
-- E. T. A. Hoffmann

#Sky #Blue #Humanity
I may be permitted, kind reader, to doubt whether you have ever been enclosed in a glass bottle, unless some vivid dream has teased you with such magical mishaps.
-- E. T. A. Hoffmann

#Dream #Glasses #Doubt
Let me ask you outright, gentle reader, if there have not been hours, indeed whole days and weeks of your life, during which all your usual activities were painfully repugnant, and everything you believed in and valued seemed foolish and worthless?
-- E. T. A. Hoffmann

#Usual #Foolish #Week
Not a single man on earth knows from his own experience the how and where of his birth, only from tradition, which is often very uncertain.
-- E. T. A. Hoffmann

#Men #Earth #Birth
It is useless to contend with the irresistible power of Time, which goes on continually creating by a process of constant destruction.
-- E. T. A. Hoffmann

#Creating #Goes On #Useless
It is nearly always the most improbable things that really come to pass.
-- E. T. A. Hoffmann
Boys should not play with weapons more dangerous than they understand.
-- E. T. A. Hoffmann

#Boys #Play #Weapons
It is only in the morning that one should marry, read unfavourable reviews, make one's will, beat one's servants, and so forth.
-- E. T. A. Hoffmann

#Morning #Should #Reviews
Why should not a writer be permitted to make use of the levers of fear, terror and horror because some feeble soul here and there finds it more than it can bear? Shall there be no strong meat at table because there happen to be some guests there whose stomachs are weak, or who have spoiled their own digestions?
-- E. T. A. Hoffmann

#Strong #Soul #Use
As the priest is characterized by his cassock, so the smoker by his pipe. The way in which he holds it, raises it to his lips, and knocks out the ashes, reveals his personality, habits, passions, and even his thoughts.
-- E. T. A. Hoffmann

#Passion #Personality #Smoking

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