I wished I could read in their shrivelled faces and watery eyes, I wished I could hear in the bad French which came half through their pinched lips a… - E. T. A. Hoffmann

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I wished I could read in their shrivelled faces and watery eyes, I wished I could hear in the bad French which came half through their pinched lips and half through their pointed noses, how the old ladies had got at least on to good terms with the uncanny beings which haunted the castle.

English
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About E. T. A. Hoffmann

Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann (24 January 1776 – 25 June 1822), better known by his pen name E. T. A. Hoffmann, was a German Romantic author of fantasy and horror, a jurist, composer, music critic, draftsman and caricaturist. He is the subject and hero of Jacques Offenbach's opera The Tales of Hoffmann, a fictionalized account.

Biography information from Wikiquote

Also Known As

Native Name: Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann
Alternative Names: Ernst Theodor Wilhelm. Hoffman Ernst Theodor Amedeus Hoffmann Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffman E.T.A. Hoffmann Ernst Theodor Hoffmann Amadeus Hoffman Amadeus Hoffmann E. T. Hoffmann ernst theodor amadeus hoffmann e. th. a. hoffmann Ernst Theodore Wilhelm Hoffmann Ernst T. A. Hoffmann Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann
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Additional quotes by E. T. A. Hoffmann

Why should not a writer be permitted to make use of the levers of fear, terror and horror because some feeble soul here and there finds it more than it can bear? Shall there be no strong meat at table because there happen to be some guests there whose stomachs are weak, or who have spoiled their own digestions?

It may even be that, as you look more closely, to recognize the hidden seed which, born of a secret union, grows into a luxuriant plant and spreads forth into a thousand tendrils, until a single blossom, swelling to maturity, absorbs all the life-sap and kills the seed itself. [...] I came to feel that what we call simply dream and imagination might represent the secret thread that runs through our lives and links its varied facets; and that the man who thinks that, because he has perceived this, he has acquired the power to break the thread and challenge that mysterious force which rules us, is to be given up as lost.

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