Alfred Döblin

“Fate is not an eagle, it creeps like a rat.”

“One can't live on memories. It's a diet of ashes.”

“The writer is the conscience of his nation.”

“The world is made of stories, not of atoms.”

“A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us.”

“You can lock a man in a room, but you can’t lock the thoughts in his head.”

“The main thing is to stand up to the light, to joy, to whatever is given.”

“For it is not the clever ones who can change the world, it is the stubborn ones.”

“To be a human being is a difficult art.”

“Nothing is more unbearable than a steady stream of good days.”

“Reality is a construction. The question is, who is the constructor?”

“In the beginning was the deed.”