--- title: "1 Certain Moments Quotes By W.G. Sebald" description: "1 Certain Moments quotes by W.G. Sebald. Plus more from W.G. Sebald and more Certain Moments sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/76d/w-g-sebald-2-13661_time_had-i-realized-at-the-time-that-for-aust_2976382.jpg" --- > [“Had I realized at the time that for Austerlitz certain moments had no beginning or end, while on the other hand his whole life had sometimes seemed to him a blank point without duration, I would probably have waited more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/had-i-realized-at-the-time-that-for-austerlitz-certain-moments-had-no/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/76d/w-g-sebald-2-13661_time_had-i-realized-at-the-time-that-for-aust_2976382.jpg) ## More by W.G. Sebald > [“The tiny features below, taken together with the gentle mass of Montblanc towering above them, the Vanoise glacier almost invisible in the shimmering distance,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/the-tiny-features-below-taken-together-with-the-gentle-mass-of/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“...I was just laying aside a Lausanne paper I'd bought in Zurich when my eye was caught by a report that said the remains…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/i-was-just-laying-aside-a-lausanne-paper-i-d-bought-in-zurich-when-my/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“Is the destruction not, rather, irrefutable proof that the catastrophes which develop, so to speak, in our hands and seem to break out suddenly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/is-the-destruction-not-rather-irrefutable-proof-that-the-catastrophes/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“You adulterate the truth as you write. There isn't any pretense that you try to arrive at the literal truth. And the only consolation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/you-adulterate-the-truth-as-you-write-there-isn-t-any-pretense-that/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“In this little booklet, which had belonged to a maternal great-uncle of ... mine, who spent some time working as an office clerk in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/in-this-little-booklet-which-had-belonged-to-a-maternal-great-uncle/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“It is hard, said Mme Landau, when I told her about those railway lessons, in the end it is hard to know what it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/it-is-hard-said-mme-landau-when-i-told-her-about-those-railway/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“...I remembered the story Evan the cobbler had told me, about the two headstreams of Dwy Fawr and Dwy Fach which are said to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/i-remembered-the-story-evan-the-cobbler-had-told-me-about-the-two/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“Once I am at leisure, said Salvatore, I take refuge in prose as one might in a boat. All day long I am surrounded…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/once-i-am-at-leisure-said-salvatore-i-take-refuge-in-prose-as-one/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“What distinguishes art from such undertaker's business is that life's closeness to death is its theme, not its addiction.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/what-distinguishes-art-from-such-undertaker-s-business-is-that-life-s/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“Looking at those gashed bodies, and at the witnesses of the execution, doubled up by grief like snapped reeds, I gradually understood that, beyond…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/looking-at-those-gashed-bodies-and-at-the-witnesses-of-the-execution/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“I have even begun to speak in foreign tongues roaming like a nomad in my own town.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/i-have-even-begun-to-speak-in-foreign-tongues-roaming-like-a-nomad-in/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“From the outset my main concern was with the shape and the self-contained nature of discrete things, the curve of banisters on a staircase,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/from-the-outset-my-main-concern-was-with-the-shape-and-the-self/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“But I have never been able to bring myself to sell anything, except perhaps, at one point, my soul.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/but-i-have-never-been-able-to-bring-myself-to-sell-anything-except/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“Like our bodies and our desires, the machines we have devised are possessed of a heart which is slowly reduced to embers. From the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/like-our-bodies-and-our-desires-the-machines-we-have-devised-are/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“I remember to this day how easily I could grasp what he called his tentative ideas when he talked about the architectural style of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/i-remember-to-this-day-how-easily-i-could-grasp-what-he-called-his/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/certain-moments/w-g-sebald-2/#itemlist", "name": "1 Certain Moments Quotes By W.G. Sebald", "numberOfItems": 1, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Had I realized at the time that for Austerlitz certain moments had no beginning or end, while on the other hand his whole life had sometimes seemed to him a blank point without duration, I would probably have waited more patiently.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "W.G. 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