Lion Feuchtwanger Quotes & Sayings

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. — Lion Feuchtwanger

The word and the image mutually excluded each other. Joseph was a literary man to his very marrow; he put faith in the invisible Word; it was the most miraculous thing in all the world; though without form it had more power than anything endowed with form — Lion Feuchtwanger

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

I have sincerely tried not to deride the action of men, not to lament nor to abhor them. I have done all in my might to understand them.- Spinoza — Lion Feuchtwanger

Can you remember, Acte ... how much easier our belief in Nero made life for us in the old days? And can you remember the paralysis, the numbness that seized the whole world when Nero died? Didn't you feel as if the world had grown bare and colorless all of a sudden? Those people on the Palatine have tried to steal our Nero from us, from you and me. Isn't splendid to think that we can show them they haven't succeeded? They have smashed his statues into splinters, erased his name from all the inscriptions, they even replaced his head on that huge statue in Rome with the peasant head of old Vespasian. Isn't it fine to teach them that all that hasn't been of the slightest use? Granted that they have been successful for a few years. For a few years they have actually managed to banish all imagination from the world, all enthusiasm, extravagance, everything that makes life worth living. But now, with our Nero, all these things are back again. — Lion Feuchtwanger

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. — Lion Feuchtwanger

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

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

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. — Lion Feuchtwanger

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. — Lion Feuchtwanger

Talented person is talented everywhere. — Lion Feuchtwanger

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. — Lion Feuchtwanger

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

It is only the strong who are strengthened by suffering; the weak are made weaker. — Lion Feuchtwanger

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. — Lion Feuchtwanger

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. — Lion Feuchtwanger

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. — Lion Feuchtwanger

In itself it is nothing. Nothing but a book: parchment, colouring, ink. Yet the most perishable material is at the same time the most durable substance in the world ... — Lion Feuchtwanger

Whoever is free from prejudice should be ready to face misunderstanding. — Lion Feuchtwanger