Irisches Tagebuch Quotes

“We divided the bar of chocolate and tried to console ourselves with Batman, but he was really a bad man. Not only, as the cover had promised, did he climb up the outsides of houses; one of his chief pleasures was evidently to frighten women in their sleep; he could also fly off through the air by spreading out his cloak, taking millions of dollars with him, and his deeds were described in an English such as is taught neither in Continental schools nor in the schools of England and Ireland; Batman was strong and terribly just, but hard, and toward the wicked he could even be cruel, for now and again he would bash in someone’s teeth, a procedure fittingly rendered with the word “Screech.” There was no comfort in Batman.”
― Heinrich Böll, Irisches Tagebuch

“If Continental tea is like a faded yellow telegraph form, in these islands to the west of Ostend it has the dark, glimmering tones of Russian icons, before the milk gives it a color similar to the complexion of an overfed baby; on the Continent weak tea is served in fragile porcelain, here it is casually poured into thick earthenware cups from battered metal teapots, a heavenly brew to restore the traveler, dirt cheap too.”
― Heinrich Böll, Irisches Tagebuch

“Es gibt ein Mittel gegen die Einsamkeit, die einen plötzlich in einer fremden Stadt überfällt: etwas kaufen: eine Ansichtskarte, einen Kaugummi nur, einen Bleistift oder Zigaretten: etwas in die Hand bekommen, teilnehmen am Leben dieser Stadt, indem man etwas kauft [...]”
― Heinrich Böll, Irisches Tagebuch