Elective Affinities Quotes & Sayings

It is not necessary to read all of Goethe or all of Kant, it is not necessary to read all of Schopenhauer; a few pages of Werther, a few pages of Elective Affinities and we know more in the end about the two books than if we had read them from beginning to end, which would anyway deprive us of the purest enjoyment. — Thomas Bernhard

Nothing higher can be accomplished by the epic poet thus interpreting his own time in order to serve the future.
(Foreword by Frederick Ungar in Elective Affinities, 1962, Ungar Publishing) — Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Beauty is everywhere a very welcome guest. — Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Friendships are the family we make - not the one we inherit. I've always been someone to whom friendship, elective affinities, is as important as family. — Salman Rushdie