53 Quotes by Heinrich Boll

An artist is like a woman who can do nothing but love, and who succumbs to every stray male jackass.

I don't trust Catholics," I said, "because they take advantage of you.""And Protestants?" he asked with a laugh."I loathe the way they fumble around with their consciences.""And atheists?" He was still laughing."They bore me because all they ever talk about is God.

وقتي به اين مسئله فكر مي كنم كه بعضي از دلقك ها سي سال تمام نمايش هايي يكسان را اجرا مي كنند، حيرت زده مي شوم. چنين كاري براي من مانند اين است كه به خوردن يك كيسه آرد با يك قاشق محكوم شده باشم. اگر كاري را كه انجام مي دهم لذت بخش نباشد، مريض مي شوم، و حالتي بيمارگونه پيدا مي كنم

Si sa infatti che il vero bisogno, quando lo si avverta nella voce, quando lo si legga sul volto, ha il potere di chiudere le borse.

بی خداها حوصله ام را سر می برند، چون فقط درباره خدا حرف می زنند!

I would have liked to cry: the make-up stopped me, it looked just right, with the cracks, with the places where it was beginning to flake off, tears would have ruined all that. I could cry later, if I still felt like it.

I cattolici mi rendono nervoso perché sono sleali. E i protestanti? domandò ridendo, quelli mi fanno star male con quel loro pasticciare intorno alla coscienza. E gli atei? rideva ancora. Quelli mi annoiano perché parlano sempre di Dio. E lei che cos'è, in conclusione? Io sono un clown.

The gorse was in bloom, the fuchsia hedges were already budding; wild green hills, mounds of peat; yes, Ireland is green, very green, but its green is not only the green of meadows, it is the green of moss - certainly here, beyond Roscommon, toward County Mayo - and Moss is the plant of resignation, of forsakenenness. The country is forsaken, it is being slowly but steadily depopulated...

Now the Irish have a strange custom: whenever the name of County Mayo is spoken (whether in praise, blame, or non-committally, as soon as the world Mayo is spoken, the Irish add: 'God help us!" It sounds like the response in a litany: 'Lord, have mercy upon us!