Arnošt Lustig Biography & Quotes

“Svym lidem jsem nikdy nelhala, rekla matka. „Vim jenom, Ze cim jsi na tom hür, tím víc a snadnèji Izes i têm, kteri jsou ti nejbliz”

Lies

Book:Propast

Source: Propast

“Vedet víc nez más ti zkazi zivot”

Fate

Book:Propast

Source: Propast

“The past looks lovely and important only when the present, the here and now, is miserable and when the future looks unclear or even dismal.”

Holocaust Survivors

Book:Diamonds of the Night

Source: Diamonds of the Night

“To be here or somewhere else, to live or not to live, to look out through a broken window or not to look.”

Holocaust Survivors

Book:Diamonds of the Night

Source: Diamonds of the Night

“She stared ahead with eyes where dreams no longer swam, where thoughts no longer had any life. It was that hazy stare of old people behind which was the mysterious nothingness which was drawing nearer, the absolute end, the annihilation of everything and everybody, the awful end in helplessness, grief, grief, and the sleep of everything there is.”

Holocaust Survivors

Book:Diamonds of the Night

Source: Diamonds of the Night

“Time reminds everybody of death, but who goes around day and night talking about it? Was this the source of that strange anxiety which sometimes comes over us, without our knowing why? Like some strange sister of joy, it was a tremor of fear, of ending, of all that begins and passes away. Was this the source of that odd loneliness we feel even when we aren't alone. and which is akin to stardust?”

Holocaust Holocaust Survivors Holocaust Literature

Book:Diamonds of the Night

Source: Diamonds of the Night

“To look good in defeat is the ultimate a person can want.”

Holocaust Holocaust Survivors Holocaust Literature

Book:Diamonds of the Night

Source: Diamonds of the Night

“There are some things we run after and it turns out that we run in vain. Then there are things we don't pursue, and those are the things that escape us.”

Holocaust Holocaust Survivors Holocaust Literature

Book:Diamonds of the Night

Source: Diamonds of the Night

“To kill and caress. Or simply kill, so you're not always bothered by something or somebody. So it is to be killed or to kill.”

Holocaust Holocaust Survivors Holocaust Literature

Book:Diamonds of the Night

Source: Diamonds of the Night

“Hunger and cold were like two walls with no room for anything else in between but loneliness, in which a man is a stranger even to himself.”

Holocaust Holocaust Survivors Holocaust Literature

Book:Diamonds of the Night

Source: Diamonds of the Night

“There was some need, some attraction that drew him closer to the German boy whose life he'd save, just to lose his own. But it was life that connected them, because it was death at the same time. It couldn't be put into words, it was intangible, but it was as complete as everything in life is; it was what connected birds and people or a grain of dust and the stars. It was strong because it was so weak and weak because it was so strong.”

Holocaust Holocaust Survivors Holocaust Literature

Book:Diamonds of the Night

Source: Diamonds of the Night

“The hope killed them," said the old man. "It killed the very best of them. And hopelessness straightened out the very best of us.”

Holocaust Holocaust Survivors Holocaust Literature

Book:Diamonds of the Night

Source: Diamonds of the Night

“We lived a decent and beautiful life," the old man said. "Maybe it's our innocence that irritates those who hate us so much and makes them kill us and burn us and hang us. It was a magnificent life because we lived in peace with ourselves. But we were always in the minority.”

Holocaust Holocaust Survivors Holocaust Literature

Book:Diamonds of the Night

Source: Diamonds of the Night

Arnošt Lustig Biography

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