Henning Mankell

“Those who contemplate never escape the doubt.”

— Henning Mankell

“If a policeman is serious about his profession but says he has time, he lies.”

— Henning Mankell

“There is a silence in empty houses that is unique... People have left and taken all the noise with them.”

— Henning Mankell

My father thought, and now I think too, that the system of democracy is entirely based upon the system of justice. If…

— Henning Mankell

I still have a photo on my wall of the greatest idol I will ever have in my life, and it's myself…

— Henning Mankell

“The experience he'd gained during his years in the police force had given him this unambiguous answer: there are no murderers. Only…

— Henning Mankell

We used to send whole flocks of birds shooting out of our mouths and never managed to grab them by their wings.

— Henning Mankell

He was so excessively polite that Wallendar suspected he had endured many humiliations in his life.

— Henning Mankell

“This is what Sweden is - quiet people leaning over the newspapers and coffee cups, each one with his own thoughts and…

— Henning Mankell

“Working with keys is always meaningful. Locking and opening is, in a sense, man's very purpose on this earth.”

— Henning Mankell

“La plupart des voyages dont on rêve n'ont jamais lieu. Ou alors on les accomplit intérieurement. L'avantage, quand on emprunte ces vols…

— Henning Mankell

Our exile organizations have been our way of replacing the cities and villages we have lost.

— Henning Mankell

What annoys a person who suicides? The life itself. Boredom. Tiredness that descends on every morning when you look at yourself at…

— Henning Mankell

“Your memories will be a flock of birds, silently flying in the sky. You will see them flying in and see them…

— Henning Mankell

“In the biological world children are the sole purpose. Nothing else matters.”

— Henning Mankell

“There will always be new opposites, class struggles and uprisings. History has no ending.”

— Henning Mankell

“Nos quejamos de lo mal que están las cosas, pero yo a veces me pregunto si no están ya mucho peor de…

— Henning Mankell

I can still remember. I was ill, and I was seven, and my father didn't want me to just read children's books.…

— Henning Mankell

“He took a sheet of paper out of a desk drawer. But what would he write? The day’s work had hardly involved…

— Henning Mankell

“Growing older meant losing a little bit of energy every single day. And one day it would be completely gone.”

— Henning Mankell

Africa was the most exotic place I could conceive of - the end of the world - and I knew I would…

— Henning Mankell

I work every day until I do not have more to say. I learned from Graham Greene that a very good way…

— Henning Mankell

You think you know everything about a person, but the truth often comes as a surprise.

— Henning Mankell

Dreams can be of value even if you don’t have an opportunity to turn them into reality.

— Henning Mankell

For me Oliver Twist is a political novel. It is a furious critique of the treatment of orphans and poor children who…

— Henning Mankell