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52 Notable Quotes By Stefan Zweig

Famous As: One of the Most Popular and Widely Translated Writers in the World During 1920s & 1930s
Born On: November 28, 1881
Died On: February 22, 1942
Born In: Vienna, Austria
Died At Age: 60

Stefan Zweig was a renowned Austrian biographer, playwright, journalist, and novelist. During the 1920s and the 1930s, at the zenith of his literary career, he was regarded as one of the most illustrious writers across the globe. Some of his most popular works include, ‘Letter From an Unknown Woman,’ ‘The World of Yesterday,’ ‘The Royal Game,’ ‘Confusion of Feelings,’ ‘Amok’, ‘Twilight,’ ‘Forgotten Dreams,’ and ‘Maria Antoinette: The Portrait of an Average Woman,’ besides various others. He was also an ardent collector of manuscripts; many of his collections are kept at the ‘National Library of Israel’ and at the ‘British Library.’ We have compiled some quotes and sayings from the writings, work, thoughts, novels, plays and journals of the distinguished writer. 

Nothing whets the intelligence more than a passionate suspicion, nothing develops all the faculties of an immature mind more than a trail running away into the dark.

Nothing whets the intelligence more than a passionate suspicion, nothing develops all the faculties of an immature mind more than a trail running away into the dark.

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

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

Stefan Zweig
No guilt is forgotten so long as the conscience still knows of it.

No guilt is forgotten so long as the conscience still knows of it.

Stefan Zweig
How terrible this darkness was, how bewildering, and yet mysteriously beautiful!

How terrible this darkness was, how bewildering, and yet mysteriously beautiful!

Stefan Zweig
Besides, isn't it confoundedly easy to think you're a great man if you aren't burdened with the slightest idea that Rembrandt, Beethoven, Dante or Napoleon ever lived?

Besides, isn't it confoundedly easy to think you're a great man if you aren't burdened with the slightest idea that Rembrandt, Beethoven, Dante or Napoleon ever lived?

Stefan Zweig
In chess, as a purely intellectual game, where randomness is excluded, - for someone to play against himself is absurd ...
It is as paradoxical, as attempting to jump over his own shadow.

In chess, as a purely intellectual game, where randomness is excluded, - for someone to play against himself is absurd ... It is as paradoxical, as attempting to jump over his own shadow.

Stefan Zweig
All I know is that I shall be alone again. There is nothing more terrible than to be alone among human beings.

All I know is that I shall be alone again. There is nothing more terrible than to be alone among human beings.

Stefan Zweig
Freedom is not possible without authority - otherwise it would turn into chaos and authority is not possible without freedom - otherwise it would turn into tyranny.

Freedom is not possible without authority - otherwise it would turn into chaos and authority is not possible without freedom - otherwise it would turn into tyranny.

Stefan Zweig
One only makes books in order to keep in touch with one's fellows after one has ceased to breath, and thus to defend oneself against the inexorable fate of all that lives - transitoriness and oblivion.

One only makes books in order to keep in touch with one's fellows after one has ceased to breath, and thus to defend oneself against the inexorable fate of all that lives - transitoriness and oblivion.

Stefan Zweig
Beware of pity.

Beware of pity.

Stefan Zweig
En la vida, los destinos están casi siempre separados: quienes comprenden no son los ejecutores, y quienes actúan no comprenden.

En la vida, los destinos están casi siempre separados: quienes comprenden no son los ejecutores, y quienes actúan no comprenden.

Stefan Zweig
Art can bring us consolation as individuals,” he said, “but it is powerless against reality.

Art can bring us consolation as individuals,” he said, “but it is powerless against reality.

Stefan Zweig
We are happy when people/things conform and unhappy when they don't. People and events don't disappoint us, our models of reality do. It is my model of reality that determines my happiness or disappointments.

We are happy when people/things conform and unhappy when they don't. People and events don't disappoint us, our models of reality do. It is my model of reality that determines my happiness or disappointments.

Stefan Zweig
It is never until one realizes that one means something to others that one feels there is any point or purpose in one’s own existence.

It is never until one realizes that one means something to others that one feels there is any point or purpose in one’s own existence.

Stefan Zweig
Once more my pity had been stronger than my will.

Once more my pity had been stronger than my will.

Stefan Zweig
Formerly man had only a body and a soul. Now he needs a passport as well for without it he will not be treated like a human being.

Formerly man had only a body and a soul. Now he needs a passport as well for without it he will not be treated like a human being.

Stefan Zweig
Once a man has found himself there is nothing in this world that he can lose. And once he has understood the humanity in himself, he will understand all human beings.

Once a man has found himself there is nothing in this world that he can lose. And once he has understood the humanity in himself, he will understand all human beings.

Stefan Zweig
Maybe everything’s not so hard, maybe life is so much easier than I thought, you just need courage, you just need to have a sense of yourself, then you’ll discover your hidden resources.

Maybe everything’s not so hard, maybe life is so much easier than I thought, you just need courage, you just need to have a sense of yourself, then you’ll discover your hidden resources.

Stefan Zweig
Nothing on earth puts more pressure on the human mind than nothing.

Nothing on earth puts more pressure on the human mind than nothing.

Stefan Zweig
Exalt yourself by devoting yourself to others, enrich yourself by making everyone’s destiny your own, by enduring and understanding every facet of human suffering through your pity.

Exalt yourself by devoting yourself to others, enrich yourself by making everyone’s destiny your own, by enduring and understanding every facet of human suffering through your pity.

Stefan Zweig
But theoretical, imagined suffering is not what distresses a man and destroys his peace of mind. Only what you have seen with pitying eyes can really shake you.

But theoretical, imagined suffering is not what distresses a man and destroys his peace of mind. Only what you have seen with pitying eyes can really shake you.

Stefan Zweig
Immer sind die Instinkte wissender als unsere wachen Gedanken.

Immer sind die Instinkte wissender als unsere wachen Gedanken.

Stefan Zweig
There is nothing more vindictive, nothing more underhanded, than a little world that would like to be a big one.

There is nothing more vindictive, nothing more underhanded, than a little world that would like to be a big one.

Stefan Zweig
But spite is a wonderful thing for keeping people alive.

But spite is a wonderful thing for keeping people alive.

Stefan Zweig
Soul is made of stuff so mysteriously elastic that a single event can make it big enough to contain the infinite.

Soul is made of stuff so mysteriously elastic that a single event can make it big enough to contain the infinite.

Stefan Zweig
I realized that there was no point in denying oneself a pleasure because it was denied another, in refusing to allow oneself to be happy because someone else was unhappy.

I realized that there was no point in denying oneself a pleasure because it was denied another, in refusing to allow oneself to be happy because someone else was unhappy.

Stefan Zweig
In medicine the use of the knife is often the kinder course.

In medicine the use of the knife is often the kinder course.

Stefan Zweig
All office workers are afraid of being late for work.

All office workers are afraid of being late for work.

Stefan Zweig
I had an irresistible desire to make a last effort to awaken your memory.

I had an irresistible desire to make a last effort to awaken your memory.

Stefan Zweig
What a mercy, I thought, that the crippled, the maimed, those whom Fate has cheated, at least in sleep have no knowledge of the shapeliness or unshapeliness of their bodies,

What a mercy, I thought, that the crippled, the maimed, those whom Fate has cheated, at least in sleep have no knowledge of the shapeliness or unshapeliness of their bodies,

Stefan Zweig
Even if I had gone further than in all honesty I should have done, my lies, those lies born of pity, had made her happy; and to make a person happy could never be a crime.

Even if I had gone further than in all honesty I should have done, my lies, those lies born of pity, had made her happy; and to make a person happy could never be a crime.

Stefan Zweig
But since those days in Vienna I had been aware that Austria was lost, not yet suspecting, to be sure, how much I had lost thereby.

But since those days in Vienna I had been aware that Austria was lost, not yet suspecting, to be sure, how much I had lost thereby.

Stefan Zweig
Yapacak, duyacak, görecek hiçbir şey yoktu, her yerde ve sürekli hiçlikle çevriliydi insan, boyuttan ve zamandan tümüyle yoksun, boşlukta.

Yapacak, duyacak, görecek hiçbir şey yoktu, her yerde ve sürekli hiçlikle çevriliydi insan, boyuttan ve zamandan tümüyle yoksun, boşlukta.

Stefan Zweig
It remains an irrefragable law of history that contemporaries are denied a recognition of the early beginnings of the great movements which determine their times.

It remains an irrefragable law of history that contemporaries are denied a recognition of the early beginnings of the great movements which determine their times.

Stefan Zweig
In times of exceptional stress, nature will often give people's behavior so tragical a complexion that neither a picture nor a verbal description is competent to represent its titanic energy.

In times of exceptional stress, nature will often give people's behavior so tragical a complexion that neither a picture nor a verbal description is competent to represent its titanic energy.

Stefan Zweig
Yet it may serve to show that courage is often nothing but inverted weakness.

Yet it may serve to show that courage is often nothing but inverted weakness.

Stefan Zweig
...avrei dovuto sapere che i libri si fanno solo per legarsi agli uomini al di là del nostro breve respiro e difendersi così dall'inesorabile avversario di ogni vita: la caducità e l'oblio.

...avrei dovuto sapere che i libri si fanno solo per legarsi agli uomini al di là del nostro breve respiro e difendersi così dall'inesorabile avversario di ogni vita: la caducità e l'oblio.

Stefan Zweig
No one would have pity on the foolish slave of his own pity.

No one would have pity on the foolish slave of his own pity.

Stefan Zweig
Happiness would prevail where trees were planted.

Happiness would prevail where trees were planted.

Stefan Zweig
On the day I lost my passport I discovered, at the age of fifty-eight, that losing one’s native land implies more than parting with a circumscribed area of soil.

On the day I lost my passport I discovered, at the age of fifty-eight, that losing one’s native land implies more than parting with a circumscribed area of soil.

Stefan Zweig
The natural animosity between those who slept and those who were stirring in the sleeping city.

The natural animosity between those who slept and those who were stirring in the sleeping city.

Stefan Zweig
Two suitcases, in one the wardrobe, the earthly essentials, in the other- manuscripts, the spiritual supplies, then you are at home everywhere-Zweig GW Tagebuecher p. 383

Two suitcases, in one the wardrobe, the earthly essentials, in the other- manuscripts, the spiritual supplies, then you are at home everywhere-Zweig GW Tagebuecher p. 383

Stefan Zweig