Wolfgang Hildesheimer Quotes & Sayings

The riddle of Mozart is precisely that "the man" refuses to be a key for solving it. In death, as in life, he conceals himself behind his work. — Wolfgang Hildesheimer

When I was five years old, my parents gave me a magic chest. I learned to cast spells, although of a childish kind, before I had learned to read and write. — Wolfgang Hildesheimer

I had given up magic, because it had reached a state of perfection. I felt that I was able to transform men into animals. I did not make use of this capability, because I believed I could not justify an intervention of this kind in the life of another person. — Wolfgang Hildesheimer

In the view of the fact that nature is dying, political developments are of secondary importance. — Wolfgang Hildesheimer

The revolutionary Mozart is the Mozart of his last eight years. — Wolfgang Hildesheimer

How can such a disproportionately large number of people have a definite, and unusually positive relationship to Mozart? — Wolfgang Hildesheimer

It is, as you can imagine, a genuine problem: I would never put up with less. It is a rather complicated problem, and my friends, or at least the well-meaning among them, advise me to solve it. But I cannot make up my mind to do so, I have gotten used to it. Sometimes, I wonder: what would I be without my problem? And of course I am unable to respond. — Wolfgang Hildesheimer