Hamletmachine Quotes

“I am not Hamlet. I don’t play a role anymore. My words have nothing more to tell me. My thoughts suck the blood out of the images. My drama is cancelled. Behind me the set is being built. By people my drama doesn’t interest, for people it doesn’t concern. It doesn’t interest me anymore either. I won’t play along anymore.”
― Heiner Müller, Hamletmachine

“[OPHELIA] I am Ophelia. She who the river could not hold.”
― Heiner Müller, Hamletmachine

“Soll ich, weil's Brauch ist, ein Stück Eisen stecken in das nächste Fleisch oder ins übernächste, mich dran zu halten, weil die Welt sich dreht? Herr, brich mir das Genick im Sturz von einer Bierbank.”
― Heiner Müller, Die Hamletmaschine

“Ich legte mich auf den Boden und hörte die Welt ihre Runden drehn im Gleichschritt der Verwesung.”
― Heiner Müller, Hamletmachine

“Wie ein Buckel schlepp' ich mein schweres Gehirn.”
― Heiner Müller, Hamletmachine

“This is Electra speaking. In the heart of darkness. Under the sun of torture. To the capitals of the world. In the name of the victims. I eject all the sperm I have received. I turn the milk of my breasts into lethal poison. I take back the world I gave birth to. I choke between my thighs the world I gave birth to. I bury it in my womb. Down with the happiness of submission. Long live hate and contempt, rebellion and death. When she walks through your bedrooms carrying butcher knives you'll know the truth.”
― Heiner Müller, Hamletmachine

“My thoughts are lesions in my brain. My brain is a scar. I want to be a machine. Arms for grabbing Legs to walk on, no pain no thoughts.”
― Heiner Müller, Hamletmachine

“My drama didn’t happen. The script has been lost. The actors put their faces on the rack in the dressing room. In his box, the prompter is rotting. The stuffed corpses in the house don’t stir a hand. I go home and kill the time, at one/with my undivided self.”
― Heiner Müller, Hamletmachine

“I am the soldier in the gun turret, my head is empty under the helmet, the stifled scream under the tracks.”
― Heiner Müller, Hamletmachine

“What thou killed thou shalt love.”
― Heiner Müller, Hamletmachine

“SHALL I
AS IS THE CUSTOM STICK A PIECE OF IRON INTO
THE NEAREST FLESH OR THE SECOND BEST
TO LATCH UNTO IT SINCE THE WORLD IS SPINNING”
― Heiner Müller, Hamletmachine

“Here comes the ghost who made me, the ax still in his skull. Keep your hat on, I know you've got one hole too many. I would my mother had one less when you were still of flesh: I would have been spared myself. Women should be sewed up—a world without mothers. We could butcher each other in peace and quiet, and with some confidence, if life gets too long for us or our throats too tight for our screams.”
― Heiner Müller, Hamletmachine

“I’M LUGGING MY OVERWEIGHT BRAIN LIKE A HUNCHBACK”
― Heiner Müller, Hamletmachine