Quotes by Lion Feuchtwanger

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Art has, since its humblest beginnings, been the realization of the presentiments of some, responding to the needs of all. She forced the universe to reveal to her the laws that enabled us to gradually establish the rule of spirit in the universe. Emanating from humanity, it revealed to humanity its understanding of itself.

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It has been said that the artist reaches his own sie. Not true. The artist who says it is possessed by a pathetic pride. The artist who believes it, is not an artist. If he had not needed the most universal of our languages, the artist would not have created it. No one needs the presence and approval of people more than he.

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Art that is not animated by the desire to create something outside of itself, that does not aim to communicate, to echo in consciousnesses and existences, is not art.

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Art is a monument of humanity, of its spiritual existence, through which man affirms his passage through history, as he also affirms through science.

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Life, no matter how much you curse it, is still worth living.

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He who takes many things upon himself, rightly expects many things from others.

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He who has no prejudices must expect not to be understood.

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There is no greater crime than a needless war.

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From the sublime to the ridiculous is only one step, but from the ridiculous to the sublime there is no way to get there.

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A modest peace is better than some lavish victories.

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Suffering only makes the strong stronger and the weak even weaker.

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Man needs two years to learn to speak and sixty to learn to keep his mouth shut.

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A wish is no less sweet than its realization.

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If we talk all the time about peace, it will lead to war rather than if we talk all the time about war.

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It is the right of youth to be hot-headed, to attack what is crooked, to try to adjust it, even if it breaks in the effort.

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There is only one reality in this world: money. War and peace, life and death, women's decency, papal power to dissolve and bind, the order's desire for freedom, the purity of the Augustinian creed, ships crossing the sea, the power of princes to rule, the conversion of the New World, love, piety, cowardice, lust, sin and virtue: the source of everything is money, and everything will become money again, and everything can be expressed - with numbers.

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Without darkness, there would be no concept of light. If light wants to grasp its own essence, it must find its opposite, darkness.

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Just as some people have to taste evil to the hilt in order to be truly good, so too humanity must pass through the kingdom of evil before the kingdom of good can come.

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The center of the world is not where a person was born, but the world has as many centers as there are inhabitants.

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The artist is more than a specialist, he affects everyone, he knows everyone's being, he speaks for everyone, he speaks for the people as a whole.

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You can't do politics fairly. Virtue is not the same as justice. Virtue requires us to be unjust at times.

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We go to confession every month, but we cling to our sins every day, until we die. There is no pagan who is as barbaric and wicked as us Spanish Christians.

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Those who cannot grasp something with determination often leave empty-handed, and I confess that the gods only give mortals a great opportunity once!

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We just have to be lucky. It must be within us, because it does not come to man from outside. Luck is a quality, like a nose, like a leg, like an ass and everything else: either you have it or you don't.

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Your yes should be yes and your no should be no. But say no to very few and yes to even fewer.

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Only free people can change their religion, this is not appropriate for prisoners!