Malte > Malte's Quotes

“Ich bin ein fleißiger Mosaikarbeiter, kein Dichter.”
― Arno Schmidt

“[...]the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes “Awww!”
― Jack Kerouac, On the Road

“One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.”
― Jack Kerouac, The Dharma Bums

“Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery - celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from - it’s where you take them to."

[MovieMaker Magazine #53 - Winter, January 22, 2004 ]”
― Jim Jarmusch

“Not me, paranoia's the garlic in life's kitchen, right, you can never have too much.”
― Thomas Pynchon, Bleeding Edge

“I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.”
― Edgar Allan Poe

“Nothing happened today. And if anything did, I’d rather not talk about it, because I didn’t understand it.”
― Roberto Bolaño, The Savage Detectives

“I am interested in language because it wounds or seduces me.”
― Roland Barthes, The Pleasure of the Text

“Every established order tends to produce the naturalization of its own arbitrariness.”
― Pierre Bourdieu

“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.”
― Philip K. Dick, I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon

“Literature is the most agreeable way of ignoring life.”
― Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet

“A decent human being is ashamed at being somebody's boss!”
― Arno Schmidt, Scenes from the Life of a Faun: A Short Novel