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Stefan Zweig

Stefan Zweig Quotes

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Famous Stefan Zweig Quotes

“The instinct of self-deception in human beings makes them try to banish from their minds dangers of which at the bottom they are perfectly aware by declaring them nonexistent, and a warning such as mine against cheap optimism was bound to prove particularly unwelcome at a moment when a sumptuously laid supper was awaiting for us in the next room.”

HumanityHuman BeingsAwarenessDangerFoodOptimismInstinctAbundanceWarningCowardiceSelf DeceptionSupperAwareUnwelcomeDangersAwaitingBanishNonexistentCheap Optimism
Book:Beware of Pity
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“In my youth and comparative inexperience I had always regarded the yearning and pangs of love as the worst torture that could afflict the human heart. At this moment, however, I began to realize that there was another and perhaps grimmer torture than that of longing and desiring: that of being loved against one's will and of being unable to defend oneself against the urgency of another's passion; of seeing another human being seared by the flame of her desire and of having to look impotently, lacking the power, the capacity, the strength to pluck her from the flames.”

LoveHumansLooksHeartMomentsDesirePassionRealizingHuman BeingsSeeingWorstYouthCapacityLongingOneselfFlamesTortureYearningLackingHuman HeartUrgencyBeing LovedPluckInexperience
Author:Stefan Zweig
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“Every epoch which seeks renewal first projects its ideal into a human form. In order to comprehend its own essence tangibly, the spirit of the time chooses a human being as its prototype and raising this single individual, often one upon whom it has chanced to come, far beyond his measure, the spirit enthuses itself for its own enthusiasm.”

FirstsHumansFormSpiritOrderIndividualChangeHuman BeingsHistoryProjectsIdealsEssenceEnthusiasmRenewalEpochHuman FormPrototype
Author:Stefan Zweig
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“But nothing is better than a truth which appears not to have the semblance of truth. There is always something incomprehensible about the great heroic deeds performed by humanity because they rise so far beyond the mediocre measure of mere mortals; but it is always only because of the incredible feats that human beings have accomplished that humanity recovers its faith in itself.”

HumansTruthHumanityHuman BeingsMereIncrediblesDeedsMortalsAccomplishedHeroicMediocreFeatsSemblanceMere MortalsHeroic Deeds
Author:Stefan Zweig
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“This is the first time in history that a war has involved the whole world, and also it may last many years more; this thought is soul-shattering for all of us as human beings. It is horrible to think that the crimes committed by this one man Hitler have these many years been destroying the lives of hundreds of thousands and millions, and one would despair entirely were it not certain that the majority, the innumerable majority which opposes him openly or secretly, will succeed in wiping out once and for all him and his.”

ThinkingMenWorldLifeYearsFirstsHumansMayWarSoulWholeLastsCertainHumanityHuman BeingsMillionsCrimeInvolvedSucceedDespairFirst TimeMajorityCommittedWhole WorldHorribleOne ManDestroyingShatteringWiping Out
Book:Stefan and Friderike Zweig: their correspondence, 1912-1942
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“As nature requires whirlwinds and cyclones to release its excessive force in a violent revolt against its own existence, so the spirit requires a demonic human being from time to time whose excessive strength rebels against the community of thought and the monotony of moralityonly by looking at those beyond its limits does humanity come to know its own utmost limits.”

KnowsHumansDoeSpiritHumanityForceCommunityHuman BeingsExistenceProgressLimitsViolentReleaseRebelRevoltMonotonyDemonicCyclonesExcessive Force
Author:Stefan Zweig
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“Human life is so strangely constituted that even perfected intellectual understanding combined with the richest experience is incapable of conquering innate weaknesses. Even if it thoroughly analyzes itself, psychology (and this is one of the dubious aspects of psychoanalysis) can, to be sure, recognize its flawed native characteristics, but it cannot eliminate them. Understanding (them) is not the same as overcoming (them) and, again and again, we see the wisest of human beings helpless in the fact of their small follies which everyone else observes with a smile.”

IfsHumansFactsLife IsUnderstandingHuman BeingsPsychologyHuman NatureIntellectualWeaknessAspectOvercomingConquerHuman LifeCharacteristicsFollyNativeAgain And AgainHelplessIncapableFlawedInnatePsychoanalysisWisestDubious
Author:Stefan Zweig
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“Fate forces its way to the powerful and violent. With subservient obedience it will assume for years dependency on one individual:Caesar, Alexander, Napoleon, because it loves the elemental human being who grows to resemble it, the intangible element. Sometimes, and these are the most astonishing moments in world history, the thread of fate falls into the hands of a complete nobody but only for a twitching minute.”

WorldWayYearsHumansSometimesMomentsHandsFallIndividualForceGrowsLeadershipHuman BeingsPowerfulFateMinutesGreatnessElementsAssumingViolentObedienceThreadWorld HistoryAstonishingDependencyIntangibleElementalsSubservientTwitching
Author:Stefan Zweig
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“The world has always needed human beings who refuse to believe that history is nothing but a dull, monstrous selfrepetition, a selfperpetuating, meaningless game, only varied in outer garb, who cannot be converted from their conviction that history signifies progress in morality, that our race is ascending on an invisible ladder from an animal nature towards divinity, from brutal violence to the wisely ordering intellect, and that the ultimate stage of complete understanding is already close at hand, indeed has almost been attained.”

WorldBelieveHumansHandsGamesUnderstandingGrowthHuman BeingsAnimalRaceProgressViolenceStageNeededMoralityGoodnessUltimateRefuseConvictionIntellectInvisibleDullDivinityMeaninglessBrutalLaddersMonstrousAscending
Author:Stefan Zweig
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“Only ambition is fired by the coincidences of success and easy accomplishment but nothing is quite as splendidly uplifting to the heart as the defeat of a human being who battles against the invincible superiority of fate. This is always the most grandiose of all tragedies, one sometimes created by a dramatist but created thousands of times by life.”

HumansHeartSometimesEasyHuman BeingsFateBattleAmbitionTragedyDefeatUpliftingAccomplishmentSuperiorityCoincidenceInvincibleGrandiose
Author:Stefan Zweig
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“Each of us, even the lowliest and most insignificant among us, was uprooted from his innermost existence by the almost constant volcanic upheavals visited upon our European soil and, as one of countless human beings, I can't claim any special place for myself except that, as an Austrian, a Jew, writer, humanist and pacifist, I have always been precisely in those places where the effects of the thrusts were most violent.”

HumansI CanHuman BeingsExistenceSpecialEffectsClaimsConstantJewViolentSoilHumanistInsignificantThrustPacifistSpecial PlacesUpheaval
Author:Stefan Zweig
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