Isak Dinesen Quotes

93 quotes in 1318 categories

• It is more than their land that you take away from the people, whose native land you take. It is their past as well, their…
• Coffee, according to the women of Denmark, is to the body what the Word of the Lord is to the soul.
• There are many ways to the recognition of truth, and Burgundy is one of them.
• I do not know if you remember the tale of the girl who saves the ship under mutiny by sitting on the powder barrel with…
• I don't believe in evil; I believe only in horror. In nature there is no evil, only an abundance of horror: the plagues and the…
• What is man, when you come to think upon him, but a minutely set, ingenious machine for turning with infinite artfulness, the red wine of…
• It is not the visions but the activity which makes you happy, and the joy and glory of the flier is the flight itself. .…
• I beg of you, you good people who want to hear stories told: look at this page and recognize the wisdom of my grandmother and…
• Man reaches the highest point of lovableness at 12 to 17 - to get it back, in a second flowering, at the age of 70…
• The present is always unsettled, no one has had time to contemplate it in tranquillity . I was a painter before I was a writer…
• Who tells a finer tale than any of us. Silence does.
• The air was cold to the lungs, the long grass dripping wet, and the herbs on it gave out their spiced astringent scent. In a…
• In those days I had various strong inclinations, for wine, gambling and cockfighting, and the society of gypsies, together with a passion for theological discussion…
• I felt that Paris was illuminated by a splendor possessed by no other places.
• It is a good thing to be a great sinner. Or should human beings allow Christ to have died on the Cross for the sake…
• Truth is for tailors and shoemakers. I, on the contrary, have always held that the Lord has a penchant for masquerades.
• I belong to an ancient, idle, wild, and useless tribe... I am a storyteller.
• The lime trees were in bloom. But in the early morning only a faint fragrance drifted through the garden, an airy message, an aromatic echo…
• There are things which cannot be carried through even with the good will of everybody concerned
• When you have caught the rhythm of Africa, you find out that it is the same in all her music.

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