Stefan Zweig

Only the misfortune of exile can provide the in-depth understanding and the overview into the realities of the world.

In history as in human life, regret does not bring back a lost moment and a thousand years will not recover something lost in a single hour.

Today, for a Jew who writes in the German language, it is totally impossible to make a living. In no group do I see as much misery, disappointment, desperation and hopelessness as in Jewish writers who write in German.

When they are preparing for war, those who rule by force speak most copiously about peace until they have completed the mobilization process.

Only the person who has experienced light and darkness, war and peace, rise and fall, only that person has truly experienced life.

The free, independent spirit who commits himself to no dogma and will not decide in favor of any party has no homestead on earth.

In history, the moments during which reason and reconciliation prevail are short and fleeting.

Often the presence of mind and energy of a person remote from the spotlight decide the course of history for centuries to come.

Never can the innate power of a work be hidden or locked away. A work of art can be forgotten by time; it can be forbidden and rejected but the elemental will always prevail over the ephemeral.