Stefan Zweig citáty

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„Šťastie tvojho života záleží na druhu tvojích myšlienok.“

„Nič neprekvapí ľudí viac ako zdravý rozum a jasné jednanie.“

„Bez spomienok na sklamanie, trpkosti a bolesti prežitého života smrť by bola ešte ťažšia.“

„Ruža sa stáva ozajstnou až vtedy, keď vpije do seba obdivný pohľad človeka.“

„Pravdy je možné šíriť, ale nie je možné ich vnucovať.“

„Vášeň je viac ako bytie, zmysel života viac ako život.“

„Jedine to nás obdarí milosťou, čo nám pomáha zabudnúť na temné stránky života a na ošklivosť pravdy.“

„Každý ozajstný umelec prežije väčšiu polovicu svojho života v osamelosti a tvorivom zápase. - Každý zápas o nedosiahnuteľné sa stáva hrdinstvom a všetko hrdinské smeruje k svojej najposvätnejšej konzekvencii, k zániku.“

„Každý život v konečnom dôsledku jestvuje vďaka zmierlivosti a zhovievavosti.“

„Kto sa v živote ustavične dotýka smrti, spozná príšernejšiu hrôzu ako normálny človek; kto cíti netelesnú bezváhovosť, spoznáva väčšie slasti ako ten, kto sa nikdy neodpútal od zeme.“

„Každá pravda, ktorá sa nedomyslí do konca, nemá žiadnu etickú hodnotu.“

„Láska už samotnou svojou povahou vyžaduje vždy viac ako všetko.“

„Sen je klamár pravdy.“

„Vyvolený človek je označený ako strom v nekonečnom lese - červeným znamením pre sekeru.“

„Dejiny sveta bohužiaľ nie sú také, ako sa väčšinou podávajú, len dejinami ľudskej odvahy, ale dejinami ľudskej zbabelosti.“

„Nezávislosť jestvuje len v jednotlivcovi, nenásobí sa masami a nerastie ani knihami a vzdelaním.“

„Prečo sú tí najhlúpejší vždy zároveň najväčší dobráci?“

„Slabosť sily sa skrýva v tom, že verí iba sile.“

„Človek nadobúda novú veľkosť iba novými meradlami.“

„Jediné, v čom má človek prevahu nad zvieraťom, je to, že môže zomrieť, aj keď chce, nielen vtedy, keď musí.“

„Kde sa talent len pohráva, tam je génius smrteľne vážny. Nikdy sa neuspokojí s epizódnou úlohou, ale žiada si sám pre seba celé javisko sveta.“

„Kto jednou našiel sám sebe, nemôže už nikdy nič v tomto svete stratiť.“

„Kto rozumie psychológii, a tá sa mu stane vášňou, vníma svoju vlastnú existenciu ako najväčšiu slasť.“

„Ľudský duch z času na čas potrebuje démonickú osobnosť, ktorá sa vzbúri proti konvenčnosti myslenia a monotónnosti morálky.“

„Najhoršie na tomto svete nezaviňuje zloba a brutálnosť, ale takmer vždy len slabosť.“

„Najpríjemnejším divadlom pre človeka nezúčastneného je vzrušenie druhých.“

„Najvznešenejšou odvahou ducha je vždy hrdinstvo bez brutálnosti.“

„Pravá viera je ohnivým prúdom medzi súhlasom a negáciou, medzi oboma pólmi sveta.“

„Protokol je vždycky dobrý. Když nepomůže, tak neuškodí, a k miliónům nesmyslným papírů přibude jen jeden arch navíc.“

„Rovnako ako človek potrebuje božstvo, aby nezanikol, aj božstvo, aby bolo skutočné, potrebuje človeka.“

„Sloboda nie je mŕtva, kým žije aspoň v jednom srdci.“

„Sme vděčni velkému muži, ukáže-li nám své slabosti, které ho činí lidským.“

„Súcit je príliš vlažný sesterský cit a len smutná náhrada skutočnej lásky.“

„Tí, ktorí všetko poznajú, všetkému rozumejú, a práve preto nesúdia, neodsudzujú ani nerozmýšľajú o veciach, ale iba im s vďakou veria.“

„Veľký človek nesmie byť pánom, ale fanatickým poddaným svojho osudu.“

„Život sa zmieruje s ideálom; síce nie zmätene a márnotratne, ale striedmo a sústredene na najvyšší cieľ.“

„Počas príprav na vojnu vládnuci najhorlivejšie hovoria o mieri, kým nedokončia mobilizáciu vojsk.“

„Spoločnosť je vždy najkrutejšia k tým, ktorí prezrádzajú jej tajomstvo a upozorňujú, že svojou falošnosťou sa dopúšťa zločinu voči ľudskej prirodzenosti."
(Stefan Zweig o dehonestácii nevydatých žien za Rakúsko-Uhorska).- Svet včerajška-“

“The feeling of self-assurance derived from physical achievement always transfers itself to the mental sphere.”

“There is nothing more vindictive, nothing more underhanded, than a little world that would like to be a big one.”

“Inevitably, in the secret chemistry of the emotions the feeling of pity for a sick person is imperceptibly bound up with tenderness.”

“States of profound happiness, like all other forms of intoxication, are apt to befuddle the wits; intense enjoyment of the present always makes one forget the past.”

“No one would ever believe how hard it is to be really alone in a city of millions when you don't have money.”

“Ever since the war he's had a low opinion of people and of nations, they're selfish, all of them, without the imagination to see the injustices they're perpetrating. The idealism of his youth, a belief in the moral mission of mankind and the enlightened spirit of the white race that he took from the lectures of John Stuart Mill and his followers, was buried once and for all in the bloody mire of Ypres and the chalk quarry at Soissons where his son met his death. Politics disgusts him, the cool conviviality of the club and the showy self-congratulation of the public banquet repel him; since the death of his son he's avoided making new acquaintances. His own generation's sour unwillingness to recognize the truth and its inability to adapt to the postwar era anger him, as does the younger generation's smart-alecky thoughtlessness. But with this girl he's regained belief, a vague devout gratitude for the mere existence of youth; in her presence he sees that one generation's painfully acquired mistrust of life is fortunately neither understood nor credited by the next, and that each new wave of youth is a new beginning.”

“Life is futile unless it be directed towards a definite goal.”

“Long-protracted suffering is apt to exhaust not only the invalid, but the compassion of others; violent emotions cannot be prolonged endlessly.”

“Adultery is in most cases a theft in the dark. At such moments almost every woman betrays her husband's innermost secrets; becomes a Delilah who discloses to a stranger, discloses to her lover, the mysteries of her husband's strength or weakness. What seems to me treason is, not that women give themselves, but that a woman is prone, when she does so, to justify herself to herself by uncovering her husband's nakedness, exposing it to the inquisitive and scornful gaze of a stranger.”

“It is not the healthy, the confident, the proud, the joyous, the happy, that one must love - they have no need of one's love! Arrogant and indifferent, they accept love only as homage that is theirs to command, as their due. The devotion of another is to them a mere embellishment, an ornament for the hair, a bracelet on the arm, not the whole meaning and bliss of their lives. Only those with whom life has dealt hardly, the wretched, the slighted, the uncertain, the unlovely, the humiliated, could really be helped by love. He who devotes his life to them atones to them for what life has taken from them. They alone know how to love and be loved as one should love - gratefully and humbly.”

“Youth is always right. Those who follow the counsels of youth are wise.”

“Immanuel Kant lived with knowledge as with his lawfully wedded wife, slept with it in the same intellectual bed for forty years and begot an entire German race of philosophical systems.”

“You're going to tell me that poverty's nothing to be ashamed of. It's not true, though. If you can't hide it, then it is something to be ashamed of. There's nothing you can do, you're ashamed just the same, the way you're ashamed when you leave a spot on somebody's table. No matter if it's deserved or not, honorable or not, poverty stinks. Yes, stinks, stinks like a ground-floor room off an airshaft, or clothes that need changing. You smell it yourself, as though you were made of sewage. It can't be wiped away. It doesn't help to put on a new hat, any more than rinsing your mouth helps when you're belching your guts out. It's around you and on you and everyone who brushes up against you or looks at you knows it. I know the way women look down on you when you're down at heels. I know it's embarrassing for other people, but the hell with that, it's a lot more embarrassing when it's you. You can't get out of it, you can't get past it, the best thing to do is get plastered, and here" (he reached for his glass and drained it in a deliberately uncouth gulp) "here's the great social problem, here's why the 'lower classes' indulge in alcohol so much more - that problem that countesses and matrons in women's groups rack their brains over at tea. For those few minutes, those few hours, you forget you're an affront to other and to yourself. It's no great distinction to be seen in the company of someone dressed lie this, I know, but it's no fun for me either.”

“When a dozen men are harnessed to the same cart, one always pulls harder than the others, and when it's a question of promotion and seniority, it's easy to tread on the toes of the man ahead of you. At every word one utters one has to be on one's guard; one's never quite sure whether it isn't going to arouse the disapproval of the big bugs; there's always a storm in the offing.”

“Malice is always lucky.”