Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Claudio Magris

Quote by Claudio Magris

“The honeyed sweetness of Mengele, of his words and of his smile, which he hoped would endow him with some resemblance to the Angel of Death, is the genuine, imbecile expression of every kind of fascination with evil; it is the expression featured in every demi-culture that expects the shoddy junk of the shadows to make amends for its own paltriness. The prohibited act, often as trite as throwing rubbish out of the window, is no less obtuse just because it torments or tortures. The Gorgon, said Joseph Roth about Nazism, is banal. Mengele's victims are characters in a tragedy, but Mengele himself is a figure in a farrago of gibberish.”

Quote by Claudio Magris

Work

Danube: A Sentimental Journey from the Source to the Black Sea

Browse quotes and source details for this work. more

Author

Claudio Magris
Claudio Magris

Claudio Magris is a renowned Italian scholar, born on April 10, 1939. His research focuses on European history and culture, particularly the region of Eastern Europe. Magris is known for his profound historical insights and unique literary style. more

You May Also Like

“You believe what you are and you are what you believe. This is a vicious or virtuous cycle in which we are all trapped. Our faiths and beliefs are like walls erected around us that provide us security but also act like a prison by blocking our view from the complete reality. We live in a make-believe world, oblivious to the reality that exists outside the four walls of our beliefs. The deep-rooted belief is called ‘faith’, which is responsible for many good things, but also for much of the evil in the world.”