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E.T.A. Hoffmann Quotes

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Famous E.T.A. Hoffmann Quotes

“It is an old-established custom for the hero of a story, when overcome by violent emotion, to run out into the forest, or at least to some solitary glade. This custom is a good one, because it prevails in real life. Mr Peregrinus Tyss therefore had no altenative but to run in a straight line from his house on the Horsemarket until he had left the town behind him and reached a nearby glade.”

EmotionMaster FleaSolitary Glade
Book:The Golden Pot and Other Tales
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“It may even be that, as you look more closely, to recognize the hidden seed which, born of a secret union, grows into a luxuriant plant and spreads forth into a thousand tendrils, until a single blossom, swelling to maturity, absorbs all the life-sap and kills the seed itself. [...] I came to feel that what we call simply dream and imagination might represent the secret thread that runs through our lives and links its varied facets; and that the man who thinks that, because he has perceived this, he has acquired the power to break the thread and challenge that mysterious force which rules us, is to be given up as lost.”

ImaginationGothic
Book:The Devil's Elixirs
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“Minden egyes szóval, ami most sikerülten a pergamenre került, növekedett bátorsága, és vele együtt ügyessége is. Valóban remekül lehetett írni a tollakkal, és a titokzatos tinta hollófeketén és engedelmesen csurgott a vakítóan fehér pergamenre. Midőn ilyen szorgosan és feszült figyelemmel dolgozott, egyre otthonosabban érezte magát a magányos szobában, és teljesen beleélte magát a foglalatosságba, amelyet – úgy remélte – majd szerencsésen elvégez, amikor az óra hármat ütött, a levéltáros behívta a szomszéd szobába, a gondosan elkészített ebédhez.”

InspirationalWorkFlowColors
Book:Az arany virágcserép / A homokember / Scuderi kisasszony
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“Where is the man who has not felt in his breast the wonderful mystery of love? Whoever you may be who come to read these pages - call to mind that noontide of supreme happiness, behold once more that image of angelic beauty, the spirit of love itself, as she came to meet you; it was through her, through her alone, that you seemed assured of your own higher existence. Do you recall how the bubbling springs, the rustling bushes, the caressing evening breezes told so clearly of her love? Can you still picture the flowers that turned their gentle, shining eyes upon you, bringing kisses and words of endearment from her? And she came, yielding to you utterly. You embraced her with burning desire, and thought to rise above the pettiness of earth in the flame of your fervent longing. But the miracle did not happen; you were forced back to earth just as you were about to soar with her to the distant promised land. You had lost her even before you had dared to hope; the voices, the beautiful sounds had all died away, and only the despairing lamentation of the lonely soul was heard in the cruel wilderness.”

LoveSufferingRomanticismGerman Literature
Book:The Devil's Elixirs
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“Yet although I could not resist doing so, my sleep was not interrupted. The door opened and a dark figure entered whom I recognized to my horror as my own self in Capuchin robes, with beard and tonsure. The figure came nearer and nearer my bed: I lay motionless, and every sound I tried to utter was stifled in the trance that gripped me. The figure sat down on my bed and leered mockingly at me. “You must come with me,” it said. “Let us climb on to the roof beneath the weathercock, which is playing a merry tune for the owl's wedding. Up there we will fight with each other, and the one who pushes the other over will become king and be able to drink blood.” I felt the figure take hold of me and lift me up. With a strength born of desperation I screamed: “You are not me, you are the Devil!” - and clawed at the face of the menacing spectre. But my fingers went through his eyes as if they were empty cavities, and the figure burst into strident laughter.”

ShadowRomanticismDoubleGerman Literature
Book:The Devil's Elixirs
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“There are... otherwise quite decent people who are so dull of nature that they believe that they must attribute the swift flight of fancy to some illness of the psyche, and thus it happens that this or that writer is said to create not other than while imbibing intoxicating drink or that his fantasies are the result of overexcited nerves and resulting fever. But who can fail to know that, while a state of psychical excitement caused by the one or other stimulant may indeed generate some lucky and brilliant ideas, it can never produce a well-founded, substantial work of art that requires the utmost presence of mind.”

WritingInspirationFantasyHorrorFantasticGenreWriterSupernaturalFantastique
Book:Die Serapions Brüder
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“A scholarly acquaintance in Samarkand had sent my colleague the finest and rarest tulips, as perfectly fresh as though they had just been cut from the stem. He was principally concerned with the microscopic study of their internal organs, especially of the pollen. He therefore dissected a beautiful lilac and yellow tulip, and discovered inside the calyx a tiny grain of alien matter which caught his attention in a singular fashion. How great was his astonishment when, on applying the magnifying glass, he clearly perceived that the tiny grain was none other than Princess Gamaheh, who was reposing on the pollen of the tulip's calyx and seemed to be sleeping calmly and peacefully.”

LilacTulipMaster FleaCalyx
Book:The Golden Pot and Other Tales
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“Look, cousin, there is a commotion starting over there beside the church. Two vegetable-women have probably got into a violent dispute over the vexed question of meum and tuum [mine and yours], and, with their arms akimbo, seem to be treating each other to some choice expressions. The crowd is flocking to them. A dense circle surrounds the two quarrelling women. Their voices are growing louder and shriller by the minute. They are waving their fists more and more fiercly. They are approaching each other more and more closely. We shall have fisticuffs any moment.”

ScrapMarketSquabbleFisticuffs
Book:The Golden Pot and Other Tales
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“Erlaube," fuhr Meister Abraham fort, "erlaube, mein Johannes, mit dem Just magst du mich kaum vergleichen. Er rettete einen Pudel, ein Tier, das jeder gern um sich duldet, von dem sogar angenehme Dienstleistungen zu erwarten, mittelst Apportieren, Handschuhe-, Tabaksbeutel- und Pfeife-Nachtragen usw., aber ich rettete einen Kater, ein Tier, vonr dem sich viele entsetzen, das allgemein als perfid, keiner sanften, wohlwollenden Gesinnung, keiner offenherzigen Freundschaft fähig ausgeschrieen wird, das niemals ganz und gar die feindliche Stellung gegen den Mensch aufgibt, ja, einen Kater rettete ich aus purer uneigennütziger Menschenliebe ... Es ist das gescheiteste, artigste, ja witzigste Tier der Art, das man sehen kann, dem es nur noch an der höhern Bildung fehlt, die du, mein lieber Johannes, ihm mit leichter Mühe beibringen wirst.”

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Book:The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr
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