Daniel Kehlmann

When I look at life I try to be as agnostic and unmetaphysical as possible. So I have to admit that, most…

— Daniel Kehlmann

“Sweat was running down my face. The next turn wasn’t too bad, and I noticed an old barn on the roadside, the…

— Daniel Kehlmann

A neglect of one's sentimental education early in life could bear the most unfortunate fruit.

— Daniel Kehlmann

It was both odd and unjust, a real example of pitiful arbitrariness of existance, that you were born into a particular time…

— Daniel Kehlmann

You say fate is almost indispensable to literature - I think it's completely indispensable, at least in a novel, because a novel…

— Daniel Kehlmann

When I write a book I'm always questioning the project as a whole. I always feel I might have to just throw…

— Daniel Kehlmann

Also, whenever you have direct speech, and I don't quite know why, but it always gets better in English. Dialogue, the flow…

— Daniel Kehlmann

One of the points where the art world is at its most metaphysical is in this weird aspect of the power of…

— Daniel Kehlmann

“But why people? I asked. What does he care about people? He’s a bear.”

— Daniel Kehlmann

Usually I work out the plot before I start. This time I thought: Writers always talk about not knowing where a book…

— Daniel Kehlmann

For a while I never show anybody what I'm writing, and during that time I need the feeling that publishing is only…

— Daniel Kehlmann

German can take a lot more pathos than English can. When you say "pathetic" in English it's a disparaging term, but when…

— Daniel Kehlmann

English has a better way with colloquialisms. It has colloquialisms that are colorful and expressive but not too heavy or distracting. In…

— Daniel Kehlmann

It's also one of these strange points where metaphysics converges with economy. Because really what the experts are doing is creating value…

— Daniel Kehlmann

Usually the German translators do something terrible, especially with Tom Wolfe, which is that they make it local. So if the characters…

— Daniel Kehlmann

I think that's just what happens when you write a big bestseller. After that you need to find out: What's the best…

— Daniel Kehlmann

English is much drier. You can get away with a lot less. Pathos, lyricism, these are things you have to tone down…

— Daniel Kehlmann

“Insa, cand au trecut de primele suburbii ale Berlinului si Humboldt si-a inchipuit cum Gauss a cercetat corpurile ceresti prin telescopul sau…

— Daniel Kehlmann

“Du kannst was man können muss, aber du bist leer.”

— Daniel Kehlmann

People who have experienced nothing love to tell stories while people who have experienced a great deal suddenly have no stories to…

— Daniel Kehlmann

I really just wanted to write about three brothers. When you do that, though, it gives you this wonderful opportunity to tie…

— Daniel Kehlmann

“You business', sagte er dann. 'Kill why?' Sie lächelte, um zu zeigen, dass sie nicht verstand. 'Everything', sagte der Mann. 'Foam. Lorry?'…

— Daniel Kehlmann

We think in terms of fate even if we don't believe in it. Even something as trivial as missing the bus -…

— Daniel Kehlmann

Exactly as we might ask God, and do ask God, to change our fate. The difference is that in the story the…

— Daniel Kehlmann

“He looks around, he suddenly recognizes in his colleagues what others see in him: tax officials. And he is one of them.…

— Daniel Kehlmann