Elias Canetti Quotes

"The trouble is, I am not at peace with myself; I am not always "something," and if for once I am "something," I pay for it by "being nothing" for months on end.' — Kafka, quoted by Canetti"

You keep taking note of whatever confirms your ideas — better to write down what refutes and weakens them!

Say the most personal thing, say it, nothing else matters, don’t be ashamed, the generalities can be found in the newspaper.

Cada nueva masacre crea un nuevo modelo, y da la impresión de que el crecimiento acelerado de la humanidad sólo sirve para su matanza.
Nadie, literalmente nadie puede decir qué milagro podría poner fin a
esto. Si se percibiera como esperanzador el hecho de que la experiencia y la conciencia y la conmiseración generalizada de la opinión pública empujan a terminar la guerra de Estados Unidos, se podría objetar que esta guerra ha estado exenta de victoria. A lo mejor es posible trocar hoy en día medias derrotas en repugnancia. Sin embargo, no existe todavía el remedio contra los triunfos.
La victoria contra los judíos indefensos era irresistible, e igualmente irresistible es en la actualidad la victoria en Bengala.
Las armas que matan con mayor facilidad que nunca matan de forma masiva, pero no suprimen el matar individualmente, sólo lo incluyen.

The Englishman likes to imagine himself at sea, the German in a forest. It is impossible to express the difference of their national feeling more concisely.

His great holy books, which he does not know. They are so holy that he does not dare to open them.

Each organism raises its head over a field of corpses, smiles into the sun, and declares life good.

Nothing was better for you than humiliation, for there was nothing you felt more deeply.

...there is something fluid about [packs] during the course of any individual manifestation. [p. 127]

Ninguém, em si, eleva-se acima de seu tempo. Os sublimes não estão, absolutamente, entre nós - podem estar na Grécia antiga ou entre alguns bárbaros. Muita cegueira advém de se estar tão distante, mas o direito de fechar-se aos próprios sentidos não pode ser negado a ninguém. Seja-lhes concedido isso.

There is nothing that man fears more than the touch of the unknown. He wants to see what is reaching towards him, and to be able to recognize or at least classify it. Man always tends to avoid physical contact with anything strange. In the dark, the fear of an unexpected touch can mount to panic. Even clothes give insufficient security: it is easy to tear them and pierce through to the naked, smooth, defenceless flesh of the victim.

I love writers who limit themselves, who write beneath their intelligence.

Is there still a possibility of public truth?
The prime condition for that would be that you pose your own questions, not just answer them. The questions of others have a distorting influence, one adapts to them, accepts words and concepts that should be avoided at all costs.
Ideally, you should use only words which you have filled with new meaning.

ها أنذا أحاول أن أجترح تصوير شيء ما، و ما إن يلفني الصمت حتى أدرك أني ما قلت شيئا على الإطلاق. ثمة مادة دبقة، نورانية، على نحو بديع، بقيت في أعماقي تتحدى الكلمات. و هي اللغة التي لم أتفهمها هناك، و التي من المحتم أنها الآن تجد ترجمتها في دواخلي؟ هناك أحداث، صور، و أصوات بدأ معناها الآن ينبعث حياً، تلك الكلمات التى لم تعرف التسجيل و لا الصياغة التي تكمن فيما وراء الكلمات، أبعد غوراً، أكثر التباساً من الكلمات.

You don’t have to know a philosopher’s every syllable to know why he rubs you the wrong way. You may know it best after a few of his sentences, and les and less well after that. The important thing is to see his web and move away before you tear it.