Works of Knut Hamsun Quotes

“Løytnanten optrådte som det anstod sig ham, han var den overlegne, han hadde det i sin makt å øve selvtekt og han gjorde det ikke. Å en ualmindelig herre! det hadde den største betydning for ham at han hverken var blit bedt om eller tvunget til dette - for så skulle han nok ha reagert, ho. Han hadde selv bestemt i hvilken utstrækning han vilde være overlegen: Han vilde være det i videste utstrækning, konen kunde få gå i fred. Det var noget i retning av humanisterne.”
― Knut Hamsun, Complete Works of Knut Hamsun

“I Orienten er de riktig Skam at mælde fæle
mens vi er noksaa reformerte og katolske sjæle.
De kalder deres Gud for Allah, Bibelen Koran,
En Djævel har de ogsaa nok; men ingen ægte Fan.”
― Knut Hamsun, Complete Works of Knut Hamsun

“A little way down the road I turned, and saw how his wife and daughter took him up. And I thought to myself: no, ’tis not all roses when one goes a-wandering. At the next place I came to I learned that he had been with the army, as quartermaster-sergeant; then he went mad over a lawsuit he lost, and was shut up in an asylum for some time. Now in the spring his trouble broke out again; perhaps it was my coming that had given the final touch. But the lightning insight in his eyes at the moment when the madness came upon him! I think of him now and again; he was a lesson to me. ’Tis none so easy to judge of men, who are wise or mad. And God preserve us all from being known for what we are!”
― Knut Hamsun, The Works of Knut Hamsun: Pan, The Growth of the Soil, Hunger, Shallow Soil, Under the Autumn Star and More

“Was I lazy? Had I not applied for situations, attended lectures, written articles, and worked day and night like a man possessed? Had I not lived like a miser, eaten bread and milk when I had plenty, bread alone when I had little, and starved when I had nothing? Did I live in an hotel? Had I a suite of rooms on the first floor?”
― Knut Hamsun, The Works of Knut Hamsun: Pan, The Growth of the Soil, Hunger, Shallow Soil, Under the Autumn Star and More