Quotes by Heinrich Mann

"

Whoever is against the trend in art is also against the orientation towards progress.

"

Denial of right is a temptation to which the human spirit most readily yields.

"

The powerful have a right to be optimistic.

"

Old age is burdensome, especially for the young people who have to deal with it.

"

Only the strong dare to love you, because, frankly, you don't encourage them at all.

"

Solemn ceremonies do not gain by being repeated, especially when one feels their hypocrisy and ridicule.

"

He who... ceases to see human blindness and wickedness, exposes himself to great danger.

"

Moderation is necessary and doubts are useful.

"

The better the tavern, the worse the wife; the worse the wife the better the tavern.

"

What does it mean to be big? It means being modest in the service of the neighbor, being above him.

"

What I am to you, you will be to me.

"

Justice is, of course, not justice. Usually it is even considered a precaution against true justice.

"

Nothing makes a man so mysterious and unknowable as inner firmness.

"

Our mind traverses a narrow path between abysses that call and attract it.

"

Usually dishonest people rush to give advice.

"

Democracy is, at its core, a recognition that we as a society are responsible for each other.

"

Living is more important than revenge, and he who acts looks forward, not back.

"

Man's earthly vocation is to be wise and brave, free, possessive and happy... Humanists must be unyielding and always take up arms when hostile powers want to hinder man's vocation.

"

When the heart beats, the mind is silent.

"

When work becomes an indispensable condition of existence, it becomes a matter of honor and a moral basis of society.

"

Literature is a social phenomenon.

"

Only he who believes has the right to act. What is monstrous and immoral is born on the other side of our mind. This is the fate of fools...

"

People are blind, they just go crazy and know nothing; so, as a rule, is the whole human race. The mortal, to whom God, as an exception, gave him mental health, is forced to hide it, through cunning, from the violent madmen, otherwise he will not get very far.

"

People... haven't learned to respect themselves and therefore life.

"

We are born to seek the truth, not to possess it.

"

God made us men, and we ourselves are the measure of all things, therefore only what we recognize to be so according to our innate law is true and real.