Every word wants to be taken literally, else it decays into a lie. But one mustn't take any word literally, else the world becomes a madhouse. — Robert Musil Copy Share Image
“Everything we feel and do is somehow oriented "lifeward," and the least deviation away from this direction toward something beyond is difficult or alarming.… — Robert Musil Copy Share
“He was in that familiar state - not that the occasion mattered to seriously to him -- of incoherent ideas spreading outward without a… — Robert Musil Copy Share
It is life that does the thinking all around us, forming with playful ease the connections our reason can only laboriously patch together piecemeal,… — Robert Musil Copy Share
“What is it you do, then? I'll tell you: You leave out whatever doesn't suit you. As the author himself has done before you.… — Robert Musil Copy Share
and while faith based on theological reasoning is today universally engaged in a bitter struggle with doubt and resistance from the prevailing brand of… — Robert Musil Copy Share
What is the use of good painting? We want a spell cast upon the optical part of our existence! We seldom really see the… — Robert Musil Copy Share
That the will of the people can be established by voting for democrats is, of course, a delusion. Yet when considering a non-threatening system… — Robert Musil Copy Share
“Ein Mann, der die Wahrheit will, wird Gelehrter; ein Mann, der seine Subjektivität spielen lassen will, wird vielleicht Schriftsteller; was aber soll ein Mann… — Robert Musil Copy Share
“For a long time now a hint of aversion had lain on everything he did and experienced, a shadow of impotence and loneliness, an… — Robert Musil Copy Share
“All the knowledge that has led our species from wearing animal skins to people flying, complete with proofs, would fill a handful of reference… — Robert Musil Copy Share
I also believe that few people remain completely untouched by the thought that instead of the life they lead there might also be another,… — Robert Musil Copy Share
“His appearance gives no clue to what his profession might be, and yet he doesn't look like a man without a profession either. Consider… — Robert Musil Copy Share
Philosophers are people who do violence, but have no army at their disposal, and so subjugate the world by locking it into a system. — Robert Musil Copy Share
“The drive of his own nature to keep developing prevents him from believing that anything is final and complete, yet everything he encounters behaves… — Robert Musil Copy Share
“And so the mind or spirit is the great opportunist, itself impossible to pin down, take hold of, anywhere; one is tempted to believe… — Robert Musil Copy Share
