Bernhard Schlink Quotes - Page 2

Quotes about:

• In the past, I had particularly loved her smell. She always smelled freshed, freshly washed or of freshed laundry or fresh sweat or freshly loved

  Bernhard Schlink

  Past, Sweat, Smell

  4 Copy quote

• It is hard for me to imagine that I felt good about behaving like that. I also remember that the smallest gesture of affection would bring a lump to my throat, whether it was directed at me or at someone else. Sometimes all it took was a scene in a movie. This juxtaposition of callousness and extreme sensitivity seemed suspicious even to me.

  Bernhard Schlink

  Gestures, Juxtaposition, Affection

  Bernhard Schlink (2001). “The Reader”, p.89, Vintage

  4 Copy quote

• Philosophy has forgotten about children

  Bernhard Schlink

  Children, Philosophy, Forgotten

  Bernhard Schlink (2001). “The Reader”, p.141, Vintage

  4 Copy quote

• I didn't like the way I looked, the way I dressed and moved, what I achieved and what I felt I was worth. But there was so much energy in me, such belief that one day I'd be handsome and clever and superior and admired, such anticipation when I met new people and new situations. Is that what makes me sad? The eagerness and belief that filled me then and exacted a pledge from life that life could never fulfill? Sometimes I see the same eagerness and belief in the faces of children and teenagers and the sight brings back the same sadness I feel in remembering myself.

  Bernhard Schlink

  Children, Clever, Teenager

  Bernhard Schlink (2001). “The Reader”, p.38, Vintage

  6 Copy quote

• As a citizen and someone who was a judge on the constitutional law court for 18 years, I feel whenever I can raise my voice with the hope of being heard I need to do it, but I wouldn't assign a special wisdom and responsibility to writers.

  Bernhard Schlink

  Responsibility, Years, Law

  "Bernhard Schlink: being German is a huge burden" by Kate Connolly, www.theguardian.com. September 16, 2012.

  4 Copy quote

• I did not know that children think the hard questions they ask are easy and thus expect easy answers to them, and that they are disappointed when they get cautious, complex answers.

  Bernhard Schlink

  Children, Thinking, Answers

  FaceBook post by Bernhard Schlink from Nov 27, 2013

  4 Copy quote

• There's this old saying that, if you aren't particularly gifted in natural sciences, if you don't want to become a teacher or pastor or doctor, and don't know what else to do, then you become a lawyer. But I've never regretted it.

  Bernhard Schlink

  Teacher, Doctors, Want

  "On the moral high ground' by Edward Marriott, www.theguardian.com. January 20, 2008.

  4 Copy quote

• I know that disavowal is an unusal form of betrayal. From the outside it is impossible to tell if you are disowning someone or simply exercising discretion, being considerate, avoiding embarrassments and sources of irritation. But you, who are doing the disowning, you know what you're doing. And disavowal pulls the underpinnings away from a relationship just as surely as other more flamboyant types of betrayal.

  Bernhard Schlink

  Betrayal, Exercise, Irritation

  Bernhard Schlink (2001). “The Reader”, p.74, Vintage

  6 Copy quote

• What is law? Is it what is on the books, or what is actually enacted and obeyed in a society? Or is law what must be enacted and obeyed, whether or not it is on the books, if things are to go right?

  Bernhard Schlink

  Book, Law, Lawyer

  Bernhard Schlink (2001). “The Reader”, p.91, Vintage

  4 Copy quote

• Or is there no such thing as 'too late'? Is there only 'late' and is 'late' always better than 'never'? I don't know.

  Bernhard Schlink

  Too Late, Late, Knows

  Bernhard Schlink (2011). “The Reader”, p.106, Hachette UK

  4 Copy quote

• I asked her about life, and it was as if she rummaged around in a dusty chest to get me the answers.

  Bernhard Schlink

  Answers, Chests, Ifs

  FaceBook post by Bernhard Schlink from Jul 09, 2014

  4 Copy quote

• What a sad story, I thought for so long. Not that I now think it was happy. But I think it is true, and thus the question of whether it is sad or happy has no meaning whatever.

  Bernhard Schlink

  Thinking, Long, Feeling Sad

  Bernhard Schlink (2001). “The Reader”, p.217, Vintage

  4 Copy quote

• So I was still guilty. And if I was not guilty because one cannot be guilty of betraying a criminal, then I was guilty of having loved a criminal.

  Bernhard Schlink

  Criminals, Guilty, Betray

  Bernhard Schlink (2001). “The Reader”, p.134, Vintage

  4 Copy quote

• ...I had to point at Hanna. But the finger I pointed at her turned back to me. I had loved her. I tried to tell myself that I had known nothing of what she had done when I chose her. I tried to talk myself into the state of innocence in which children love their parents. But love of our parents is the only love for which we are not responsible. ...And perhaps we are responsible even for the love we feel for our parents.

  Bernhard Schlink

  Children, Parent, Done

  4 Copy quote

• Sometimes I had the feeling that all of us in his family were like pets to him. The dog you take for a walk, the cat you play with and that curls up in your lap, purring, to be stroked - you can be fond of them, you can even need them to a certain extent, and nonetheless the whole thing - buying pet food, cleaning up the cat box, and trips to the vet - is really too much. Your life is elsewhere.

  Bernhard Schlink

  Dog, Cat, Play

  Bernhard Schlink (2001). “The Reader”, p.30, Vintage

  7 Copy quote

• I certainly know German colleagues in the US who try to be Americans, try to melt into Americanism, even before they get married and become American citizens. But I've never tried that.

  Bernhard Schlink

  Trying, Citizens, Married

  "Bernhard Schlink: being German is a huge burden" by Kate Connolly, www.theguardian.com. September 16, 2012.

  7 Copy quote

• Bravery is good when the cause is good.

  Bernhard Schlink

  Bravery, Causes

  Bernhard Schlink (2008). “Homecoming: A Novel”, p.109, Vintage

  4 Copy quote

• As an author, you can't expect a movie to be an illustration of the book. If that's what you hope for, you shouldn't sell the rights.

  Bernhard Schlink

  Book, Rights, Illustration

  4 Copy quote

Page 2 of 2

First

← Prev

1

2

Next →

• facebook
• twitter
• googleplus
• email
• linkedin