152 Quotes by Elias Canetti

There is nothing that man fears more than the touch of the unknown. He wants to see what is reaching towards him, and to be able to recognize or at least classify it. Man always tends to avoid physical contact with anything strange.

It doesn't matter how new an idea is: what matters is how new it becomes.

There is no doubt: the study of man is just beginning, at the same time that his end is in sight

When you write down your life, every page should contain something no one has ever heard about

The paranoiac is the exact image of the ruler. The only difference is their position in the world. One might even think the paranoiac the more impressive of the two because he is sufficient unto himself and cannot be shaken by failure.

The great writers of aphorisms read as if they had all known each other well.

Words are not too old, only people are too old if they use the same words too frequently.

One should use praise to recognize what one is not.

We have no standard any more for anything, ever since human life is no longer the standard.