Elias Canetti

A 'modern' man has nothing to add to modernism, if only because he has nothing to oppose it with. The well-adapted drop…

— Elias Canetti

The planet's survival has become so uncertain that any effort, any thought that presupposes an assured future amounts to a mad gamble.

— Elias Canetti

“The hand which scoops up the water is the first vessel. The fingers of both hands intertwined are the first basket. [p. 217]”

— Elias Canetti

The planets survival has become so uncertain that any effort, any thought that presupposes an assured future amounts to a mad gamble.

— Elias Canetti

“Najbolјa definicija zavičaja jeste biblioteka.”

— Elias Canetti

“Das Nicht-Wissen darf am Wissen nicht verarmen.”

— elias canetti

In five minutes the earth would be a desert, and you cling to books.

— Elias Canetti

The first effect of adjusting to other people is that one becomes boring.

— Elias Canetti

“Ionako ne postoji oskudica u osrednjim glavama.”

— Elias Canetti

Success is the space one occupies in the newspaper. Success is one day's insolence.

— Elias Canetti

It is always the enemy who started it, even if he was not the first to speak out, he was certainly planning…

— Elias Canetti

There emanates from superlatives a destructive force.

— Elias Canetti

The fear of burglars is not only the fear of being robbed, but also the fear of a sudden and unexpected clutch…

— Elias Canetti

Justice begins with the recognition of the necessity of sharing. The oldest law is that which regulates it, and this is still…

— Elias Canetti

I would like to become tolerant without overlooking anything, persecute no one even when all people persecute me; become better without noticing…

— Elias Canetti

“...no mind ever grew fat on a diet of novels. The pleasure which they occasionally offer is far too heavily paid for:…

— Elias Canetti

It doesn't matter how new an idea is: what matters is how new it becomes.

— Elias Canetti

Words are not too old, only people are too old if they use the same words too frequently.

— Elias Canetti

Travelling, one accepts everything; indignation stays at home. One looks, one listens, one is roused to enthusiasm by the most dreadful things…

— Elias Canetti

Explain nothing. Put it there. Say it. Leave.

— Elias Canetti

The great writers of aphorisms read as if they had all known each other well.

— Elias Canetti

“Another woman catches sight of Fischerle's hump on the ground and runs screaming into the street: 'Murder! Murder!' She takes the hump…

— Elias Canetti

One should use praise to recognize what one is not.

— Elias Canetti

You draw closer to truth by shutting yourself off from mankind.

— Elias Canetti

“Books have no life; they lack feeling maybe, and perhaps cannot feel pain, as animals and even plants feel pain. But what…

— Elias Canetti