Happy Birthday Lion Feuchtwanger!

Von allen Lastern ist Anstand das kostspieligste.

Both the historian and the novelist view history as the struggle of a tiny minority, able and determined to make judgments, which is up against a vast and densely packed majority of the blind, who are led by their instincts and unable to think for themselves.

Links und rechts kann man nicht verwechseln? Welch ein Irrtum.

An action doesn't have to be wrong just because it is not logical. It doesn't have to be right just because it has its logic.

Im Grunde nimmt man jeden Tag von irgend etwas Abschied, ohne es zu wissen.

There's only a step from the sublime to the ridiculous, but there's no road leading from the ridiculous to the sublime.

Grübeleien darüber, was man hätte tun und was man hätte lassen sollen, sie führen zu nichts.

I have always made an effort to render every detail of my reality with the greatest accuracy; but I have never paid attention to whether my presentation of historical facts was an exact one.

Der Instinkt ist keineswegs immer ein guter Ratgeber.

From depicting the past, so goes the suspicion, it is a short step to glorifying the past.

Ever since my youth it has disturbed me that of the literary works that survived their own epoch, so many dealt with historical rather than contemporary subjects.

After closely examining my conscience, I venture to state that in my historical novels I intended the content to be just as modern and up-to-date as in the contemporary ones.

Asking the author of historical novels to teach you about history is like expecting the composer of a melody to provide answers about radio transmission.

What is a historian, anyway? It is someone who uses facts to record the development of humanity.

I should add that it is open to debate whether what we call the writing of history these days is truly scientific.

An author who sets about to depict events of the past that have run their course is suspected of wishing to avoid the problems of the present day, of being, in other words, a reactionary.


Like the philosopher, the author views his task as one of establishing a clear connection between life and history, and of making the past bear fruit for the present and future.