152 Quotes by Elias Canetti

Success is the space one occupies in the newspaper. Success is one day’s insolence.

People’s fates are simplified by their names.

The family becomes rigid and hard when it excludes others from its meals; those that must be fed provide a natural pretext for the exclusion of others. The hollowness of this pretext is revealed by families which have no children and yet make not the slightest move to share their meal with others. The ‘family’ of two is man’s most contemptible creation.

Savor powerlessness, after power, in every phase that matches it precisely; replace every old triumph with the new defeat; strengthen yourself on your weakness; win yourself back when so very lost.

One needs time to free oneself of wrong convictions. If it happens too suddenly, they go on festering.

Fear thrives strongest; there is no telling how little we would be without having suffered fear. An intrinsic characteristic of humanity is the tendency to give in to fear. No fear is lost, but its hiding places are a riddle. Perhaps, of all things, fear is the one that changes least.

You keep taking note of whatever confirms your ideas – better to write down what refutes and weakens them!

The act of naming is the great and solemn consolation of mankind.

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