Quote

In the course of writing one historical book or another, it has happened that I could hardly restrain myself from simply copying entire documents. Indeed, I sometimes sank down among the documents and said to myself, I can't improve on these.

Alfred Doblin

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Alfred Doblin
Age: 78 †
Born: 1878
Born: August 10
Died: 1957
Died: June 24
Essayist
Journalist
Neurologist
Novelist
Physician Writer
Playwright
Poet
Science Fiction Writer
Writer
Stettin
Linke Poot
Simply
Objectivity
Courses
Documents
Course
Hardly
Happened
Improve
Another
Historical
Book
Indeed
Sank
Sometimes
Entire
Restrain
Writing
Among
Copying

More quotes by Alfred Doblin

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Much unhappiness comes from walking alone. When there are several, it's somewhat different. I must get into the habit of listening to others, for what the others say concerns me, too.
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No country is so peaceful as the one that leads into death. Life arches above one's head like a bridgespan, and below it flows the water, carries the boat, takes it further.
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You shouldn't be a big shot about your fate. I'm an enemy of Destiny, I'm not a Greek, I'm a Berliner.
Alfred Doblin
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My books, at any rate, deserved to be burned.
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One encounters very capable fathers abashed by their piano-playing daughters. Three measures of Schumann make them red with embarrassment.
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Cultivate your Futurism. I'll cultivate my Döblinism.
Alfred Doblin
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The world is made of sugar and dirt.
Alfred Doblin
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Revolution? Unscrew the flag-staff, wrap the bunting in the oil covers, and put the thing in the clothes-chest. Let the old lady bring you your house-slippers and untie your fiery red necktie. You always make revolutions with your mugs, your republic--nothing but an industrial accident.
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I used to think great teachers inspire you. Now I think I had it wrong. Good teachers inspire you great teachers show you how to inspire yourself every day of your life. They don't show you their magic. They show you how to make magic of your own.
Alfred Doblin
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The cities are the principal home and seat of the human group. They are the coral colony for Man, the collective being.
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The subject of the novel is reality liberated from soul. The reader in complete independence presented with a structured process:let him evaluate it, not the author. The façade of the novel cannot be other than stone or steel, flashing electrically or dark, but silent.
Alfred Doblin
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I read like the flame reads the wood.
Alfred Doblin
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The German Reich is a Republic, and whoever doesn't believe it gets one in the neck.
Alfred Doblin
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Writing is not chewing your nails and picking your teeth, but a matter of public interest.
Alfred Doblin
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And if you ask again whether there is any justice in the world, you'll have to be satisfied with the reply: Not for the time being at any rate, not up to this Friday.
Alfred Doblin
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That's how the Germans are.... The aristocrats at the top hard as glass, cold as ice, servants of the King, the working masses willing, pliable, sentimental, susceptible to brutality, the middle class educated and cowardly to the point of servility.
Alfred Doblin
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But such is life, the silliest proverbs prove to be true, and when a man thinks, now it's all right, it's not all right by a longshot. Man proposes, God disposes, and there's always that last straw to break the camel's back.
Alfred Doblin
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But the main things about a man are his eyes and his feet. He should be able to see the world and go after it.
Alfred Doblin