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Bernhard Schlink

Bernhard Schlink Quotes

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Famous Bernhard Schlink Quotes

“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.”

IfsKnowsFormImpossibleSourceTypeExerciseBetrayalAvoidingEmbarrassmentDiscretionIrritationConsiderateFlamboyantBe ConsiderateDisowning
Book:The Reader
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“Why? Why does what was beautiful suddenly shatter in hindsight because it concealed dark truths? Why does the memory of years of happy marriage turn to gall when our partner is revealed to have had a lover all those years? Because such a situation makes it impossible to be happy? But we were happy! Sometimes the memory of happiness cannot stay true because it ended unhappily. Because happiness is only real if it lasts forever? Because things always end painfully if they contained pain, conscious or unconscious, all along? But what is unconscious, unrecognized pain?”

IfsYearsDoeRealEndsSometimesPainLastsBeautifulTurnsMemoriesDarkSituationForeverImpossibleLoversConsciousPartnersUnconsciousConcealedHindsightStay TrueHappy Marriage
Author:Bernhard Schlink
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“I took all the blame. I admitted mistakes I hadn't made, intentions I'd never had. Whenever she turned cold and hard, I begged her to be good to me again, to forgive me and love me. Sometimes I had the feeling that she hurt herself when she turned cold and rigid. As if what she was yearning for was the warmth of my apologies, protestations, and entreaties. Sometimes I thought she just bullied me. But either way, I had no choice.”

IfsWayMadeSometimesHardFeelingsChoicesHurtMistakeColdAnd LoveBlameForgivingIntentionBe GoodWarmthYearningApologyBulliedForgive Me
Book:The Reader
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“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.”

NeedsSometimesPlayWholeFeelingsLife IsCertainWalksToo MuchDogCatBoxesBuyingPetElsewhereCleaningLapCurlsVetsCleaning UpPurringPet Food
Book:The Reader
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“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.”

SometimesHardRememberFeltImagineSceneAffectionExtremesThroatGesturesImagine ThatSmallestSensitivitySuspiciousLumpsJuxtapositionCallousness
Book:The Reader
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“I'm not frightened. I'm not frightened of anything. The more I suffer, the more I love. Danger will only increase my love. It will sharpen it, forgive its vice. I will be the only angel you need. You will leave life even more beautiful than you entered it. Heaven will take you back and look at you and say: Only one thing can make a soul complete and that thing is love.”

NeedsLooksSoulBeautifulSufferingHeavenOne ThingDangerReaderAngelIncreaseForgivingVicesFrightenedNeed You
Author:Bernhard Schlink
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“...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.”

FeelsChildrenStatesDoneParentKnownResponsibleFingersInnocenceOnly LoveChildren Love
Author:Bernhard Schlink
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“Does everyone feel this way? When I was young, I was perpetually overconfident or insecure. Either I felt completely useless, unattractive, and worthless, or that I was pretty much a success, and everything I did was bound to succeed. When I was confident, I could overcome the hardest challenges. But all it took was the smallest setback for me to be sure that I was utterly worthless. Regaining my self-confidence had nothing to do with success...whether I experienced it as a failure or triumph was utterly dependent on my mood.”

WayFeelsDoeSelfYoungFeltChallengesConfidenceSucceedOvercomingBoundsSelf ConfidenceMoodHardestTriumphUselessDependentSmallestInsecureWorthlessSetbackUnattractiveOverconfident
Book:The Reader
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“What should our second generation have done, what should it do with the knowledge of the horrors of the extermination of the Jews? We should not believe we can comprehend the incomprehensible, we may not compare the incomparable, we may not inquire because to inquire is to make the horrors an object of discussion, even if the horrors themselves are not questioned, instead of accepting them as something in the face of which we can only fall silent in revulsion, shame and guilt. Should we only fall silent in revulsion, shame and guilt? To what purpose?”

IfsShouldBelieveMayDoneFacesPurposeFallAcceptingGenerationsObjectsHorrorShameGuiltSilentJewCompareDiscussionIncomparableExterminationRevulsionShame And Guilt
Book:The Reader
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“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.”

PeopleWayFeelsChildrenSometimesRememberFacesBeliefEnergyFeltSituationSadnessMetsOne DaySightMovedFilledCleverSuperiorsTeenagerAnticipationHandsomePledgeEagernessNew Situations
Book:The Reader
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