“We underestimated human potential, both the strength of man's intellect and the weakness of his flesh, and therefore his receptivity to satanic inspiration -- but ultimately he is our creature, and so what we've really underestimated is our own creativity.… — Harry Mulisch Copy Share
“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 front door. Then the wings fold up, and they are home again, as though in the center of an impassable steel ring on the horizon. The moment they close the door behind them, they can no… — Harry Mulisch Copy Share
“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 of van binnen, of allebei, - terwijl andere mensen daar vaak niets van zien, en meestal is het ook niet zo. Maar wie altijd mooi is, is degene die liefheeft, want hij heeft lief en wordt… — Harry Mulisch Copy Share
“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? It's because we hate them in the name of the light, I guess, whereas they hate only in the name of darkness. We hate hate itself, and for this reason our hate is better than theirs.… — Harry Mulisch Copy Share
“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 would be coming by car. Saskia called and suggested that he pick them up--then they could get coffee together first. A typical country dweller, he replied that he wouldn't be caught dead in Amsterdam; what did… — Harry Mulisch Copy Share
