Babette’s Feast Quotes

“I have been with you every day of my life. You know, do you not, that is has been so? And, I shall be with you every day that is left to me. Every evening I shall sit down, if not in flesh, which means nothing, in spirit, which is all, to dine with you, just like tonight. For tonight I have learned that in this world anything is possible.”
― Isak Dinesen, Babette’s Feast

“Mercy and truth, my friends, have met together,' said the General. 'Righteousness and bliss shall kiss one another.”
― Isak Dinesen, Babette’s Feast

“And as he passed the boy gave the elder man a short glance and a smile, the haughty and arrogant smile which youth gives to ages.”
― Isak Dinesen, Babette’s Feast

“This woman, this Chef has the ability to transform a dinner into a kind of love affair, a love affair that makes no distinction between the bodily appetite and the spiritual appetite.”
― Karen Blixen, Babette’s Feast

“Yes, with your Monsieur Papin, my poor lady,’ said Babette. ‘He told me so himself “It is terrible and unbearable to an artist,” he said, “to be encouraged to do, to be applauded for
doing, his second best.” He said: “Through all the world there goes one long cry from the heart of the artist: Give me leave to do my utmost!”
― Isak Dinesen, Babette's Feast

“Yes, with your Monsieur Papin, my poor lady,’ said Babette. ‘He told me so himself “It is
terrible and unbearable to an artist,” he said, “to be encouraged to do, to be applauded for
doing, his second best.” He said: “Through all the world there goes one long cry from the
heart of the artist: Give me leave to do my utmost!”
― Isak Dinesen, Babette's Feast

“¿Puede el total de una suma de victorias, a lo largo de muchos años y países, dar como resultado una derrota? El general Loewenhielm había hecho realidad los deseos del teniente Loewenhielm, y había satisfecho sobradamente sus ambiciones. Podía afirmarse que había conquistado el mundo entero. Y había llegado a esto: a que el hombre maduro se volviese ahora hacia la figura joven e ingenua para preguntarle gravemente, incluso amargamente, en qué había salido ganando. En alguna parte había perdido algo.”
― Isak Dinesen, Babette's Feast

“Long after midnight the windows of the house shone like gold, and golden song flowed out into the winter air.”
― Isak Dinesen, Babette's Feast

“Grace, my friends, demands nothing from us but that we shall await it with confidence and acknowledge it in gratitude.”
― Isak Dinesen, Babette's Feast

“In Paradise I shall hear your voice again. There you will sing, without fears or scruples, as God meant you to sing. There you will be the great artist that God meant you to be. Ah! how you will enchant the angels.”
― Isak Dinesen, Babette's Feast