Her smile and voice suggested the kind of excitement that comes when the first words in a long, silent relationship are spoken at last - a subtle exc… - Thomas Mann

But Hans Castorp said as they walked on: “You see, I didn’t mind it at all, I got on with her quite well; I always do with such people; I understand instinctively how to go at them — don’t you think so? I even think, on the whole, I get on better with sad people than with jolly ones — goodness knows why. Perhaps it’s because I’m an orphan, and lost my parents early;

The anti-human, dictatorial mentality of our day ignores “ original sin,” or what may be called spiritual conscience. It considers the consciousness of sin, or spirituality, as injurious to military prowess. It teaches optimistic heroics — in direct and stupid contradiction of the extreme contempt for humanity, which it exalts in the same breath.

The days began to fly now, and yet each one of them was stretched by renewed expectations and swollen with silent, private experiences. Yes, time is a puzzling thing, there is something about it that is hard to explain.