“He and Onno had once come to the conclusion that you had to decide for yourself whether after your death you wanted to return to your father, then you must go into fire, because that was spirit, but your mother… — Harry Mulisch Copy Share Image
In a world full of war, famine, oppression, deceit, monotony, what—apart from the eternal innocence of animals—offers an image of hope? A mother with a newborn child in her arms? The child may end up as a murderer or a… — Harry Mulisch Copy Share Image
“Still, national politics meant little to him: about as much as paper airplanes would mean to the survivor of a plane crash.” — Harry Mulisch Copy Share Image
“People returning from a journey carry the distances they have traveled with them like outspread wings - until they put the key in their… — Harry Mulisch Copy Share Image
“He understood very well that it was just because of this intimacy that their marriage had not survived.” — Harry Mulisch Copy Share Image
“Iemand die van iemand anders houdt, zegt altijd dat dat komt doordat die ander zo mooi is, op een of andere manier, van buiten… — Harry Mulisch Copy Share Image
“You could chat with anyone; being silent together without it becoming embarrassing was a lot rarer.” — Harry Mulisch Copy Share Image
“The oldest thing of all is the present, because there's never been anything else but present. No one has ever lived in the past,… — Harry Mulisch Copy Share Image
“Hate is the darkness, that's no good. And yet we've got to hate Fascists, and that's considered perfectly all right. How is that possible?… — Harry Mulisch Copy Share Image
“When we heard those shots and he saw Ploeg lying in front of the house, what he said was, 'My God, the lizards!'" With… — Harry Mulisch Copy Share Image
Perhaps, he thought, true pure love, like all flowers, flourished best with its roots in muck and mud. Perhaps that was a law of… — Harry Mulisch Copy Share Image
“His father in law, who was as old as the century, had just retired and was living in a country house in Gelderland. He… — Harry Mulisch Copy Share Image
All cows were like other cows, all tigers like all other tigers - What on earth happened to human beings? — Harry Mulisch Copy Share Image
“We underestimated human potential, both the strength of man's intellect and the weakness of his flesh, and therefore his receptivity to satanic inspiration --… — Harry Mulisch Copy Share Image
“If you believe we shouldn't have done it, then you also believe that, in the light of history, the human race shouldn't have existed.… — Harry Mulisch Copy Share Image
