309 Quotes by Thomas Mann

They walked, and the long waves rolled and murmured rhythmically beside them; the fresh salty wind blew free and unobstructed in their faces, wrapped itself around their ears, and made them feel slightly numb and deliciously dizzy. They walked along in that wide, peaceful, whispering hush of the sea that gives every sound, near or far, some mysterious importance.

Consciousness of self was an inherent function of matter once it was organized as life, and if that function was enhanced it turned against the organism that bore it, strove to fathom and explain the very phenomenon that produced it, a hope-filled and hopeless striving of life to comprehend itself, as if nature were rummaging to find itself in itself - ultimately to no avail, since nature cannot be reduced to comprehension, nor in the end can life listen to itself.

He probably was mediocre after all, though in a very honorable sense of that word.

L'amour affronte la Mort ; lui seul, non pas la vertu, est plus fort qu'elle. Lui seul (pas la vertu) inspire de bonnes pensées.

Dennoch gibt es etwas, was einige von uns in Augenblicken, die ihnen selbst as verbrecherisch erscheinen, andere aber frank und permanent, mehr fürchten als die deutsche Niederlage, und das ist der deutsche Sieg.

Mais qu'était-ce que l'humanisme ? C'était l'amour des hommes, ce n'était pas autre chose, et par là même l'humanisme était aussi une politique, une attitude de révolte contre tout ce qui souille et déshonore l'idée de l'homme.

Democracy is eternal and human. It dignifies the human being; it respects humanity.

Le temps est un don des dieux, prêté à l'homme pour qu'il en tire parti, pour qu'il en tire un parti utile, ingénieur, au service du progrès de l'humanité.

One could say that someone who does nothing but wait is like a glutton whose digestive system processes great masses of food without extracting any useful nourishment. One could go further and say that just as undigested food does not strengthen a man, time spent in waiting does not age him.