Steppenwolf Quotes
"One thing he had not learned, however, was to be satisfied with himself and his life."
"Harry’s case, on the other hand, was different. In him the human being and the wolf went their own separate ways."
"Every human action became frighteningly comic and self-conscious, vain and inane."
"Even the unhappiest of lives has its hours of sunshine, small flowers of contentment that dot its sandy, stony ground."
"The air around him was getting thinner and thinner the more solitary he became, severing all contact with others, and he was slowly suffocating as a result."
"Suicide, though it offers a way out, is nevertheless merely a shabby and illegitimate emergency exit."
"The typical ‘suicide case’ [...] tends to react to the mildest distress by giving serious consideration to suicide."
"The vast majority of intellectuals, most artist figures are of the same type."
"The bourgeoisie constantly has a whole host of strong, untamed characters living in its midst."
"The division into wolf and human being, body and mind or spirit, by means of which Harry tries to make his destiny more comprehensible to himself, is a very crude simplification."
"It's a matter of making music, Herr Haller, making music as well, as much and as intensively as possible! That's the point, Monsieur."
"With music, it's not a matter of being right, or of taste and education and all that."
"I'm not used to that kind of thing any more, sitting and chatting with people. I've forgotten how."
"Hanging oneself may be difficult, I don't know, but living is much, much more difficult. God only knows how difficult it is."
"I went to university, made music, read books, wrote books, travelled."
"But what I do need, after all this time, is to know your name!"
"You can't be seriously religious while living in the real world and, what's more, taking the things of the real world seriously – time, money, the Odeon Bar and all that."
"I'm not sure myself now. I went to university, made music, read books, wrote books, travelled –"
"But you have learned to read and write, haven't you, and you've learned arithmetic; probably Latin and French too, all sorts of stuff like that? I bet you spent ten or twelve years at school, then quite possibly went to university into the bargain."
"In the first place, I felt really sorry for Goethe. You see, I'm very, very fond of him."
"Music that lives on even though it’s not currently being played."
"It first has to have been played and heard and has to have got into the bloodstream before anyone can think or dream of it in the privacy of their home."
"But we musicians have to do our bit by carrying out the duty assigned to us."
"Sometimes the old Harry seemed to be totally extinct, then suddenly he was on his feet again, giving orders."
"Only occasionally, in the theatrical world, had I previously encountered similar existences."
"Many of them were devoid of sexual desire, only reluctantly granting their favours."
"Living solely for sex, they constantly had other, thriving relationships on the go."
"That’s the sort of unhappiness, or happiness, I am waiting for."
"That they constituted everything of value that my life possessed."
"My life may have been arduous, wayward and unhappy, but it had been rich, proud and rich, a life – even its misery – fit for a king."
"It was with a smile on my face that I now entered the old place."
"The more life brought you to your senses and turned your attention to yourself, the more acute your situation became."
"The whole point of the exercise is to cheer you up and teach you how to laugh."
"One of these days you’ll be able to laugh like the Immortals."
"You are more likeable today than you’ve ever been, my dear chap."
"By choosing beautiful and cheerful images you can demonstrate that you aren’t in fact still in love with your questionable personality."
"We are not dealing with reality here, but mere images."
"The least painful solution would be to flood it with water for ten minutes."
"You are familiar with the mistaken and harmful notion that human beings constitute lasting, unified wholes."
"Schizophrenia is the beginning of all art, all fantasy."
"Our life is eternal, cool and unchanging; Cool and star-bright, our laughter knows no end…"
"I must have been mad. There was no wolf there rolling its tongue in its mouth behind the tall looking glass."
"You must learn to listen to life’s damned radio music, to respect the spirit that lies behind it while laughing at all the dross it contains."
"What you are hearing and seeing, Sir, is at one and the same time an excellent metaphor of all life."