Karl Ove Knausgard

When I wrote my fictional novels, they always had a starting point of something real. Those images that are not real are…

— Karl Ove Knausgard

“When I look at a beautiful painting I have tears in my eyes, but not when I look at my children. That…

— Karl Ove Knausgård

“I was a wannabe who was actually unable to write because I had nothing to say, who wasn’t honest enough with himself…

— Karl Ove Knausgård

I think there are a lot of similarities between writing and music. Music is much more direct and much more emotional and…

— Karl Ove Knausgard

“Go somewhere you know nothing about and see what happens.”

— Karl Ove Knausgård

A problem with my novels is that they, from the start, have been infantile and incredibly childish. There are childishness, stupidity, lack…

— Karl Ove Knausgard

In modern novels I try to not let myself get away and to be here, and that's why I write about my…

— Karl Ove Knausgard

“Writing isn't black magic. You just have to come up with an idea...”

— Karl Ove Knausgård

“It was a fantastic feeling, but it left me restless because the most important thing in it was the longing, for what…

— Karl Ove Knausgård

“the past is now barely present in my thoughts. I believe the main reason for that is our children, since life with…

— Karl Ove Knausgård

“I loved it, I loved the feeling, it was my favorite feeling, but it never led to anything good, and the day…

— Karl Ove Knausgård

“Actually there were only two forms of existence, I reflected: one that was tied to a place and one that wasn't. Both…

— Karl Ove Knausgård

“And art has come to be a spectator of itself, the way it reacts, what newspapers write about it; the artist is…

— Karl Ove Knausgård

'My Struggle' came from a place of questioning and feelings of inauthenticity and frustration, and almost all of that is gone.

— Karl Ove Knausgard

In 'Min Kamp,' I wanted to see how far it was possible to take realism before it would be impossible to read.

— Karl Ove Knausgard

“Writing was a defeat, it was a humiliation, it was coming face-to-face with yourself and seeing you weren't good enough.”

— Karl Ove Knausgård

We live in the best of worlds. But still, it's like we've lost something on the way to here: a sense of…

— Karl Ove Knausgard

When you use the form of a novel, and you say 'I,' you are also saying 'I' for someone else. When you…

— Karl Ove Knausgard

Having a writer in the family is a curse - for the family. I do feel more or less guilty when I'm…

— Karl Ove Knausgard

I have some friends, most of them are writers or editors, whose recommendations I trust blindly. There are some critics, too, whom…

— Karl Ove Knausgard

“In the mist, in the darkness of the forest, in the dewdrops on the spruce needles. In the whales that swam in…

— Karl Ove Knausgård

“Oh, this is the song about the young man who loves a young woman. Has he the right to use such a…

— Karl Ove Knausgård

“It was a very special feeling to wake up in the morning, all alone in a flat, it was as though emptiness…

— Karl Ove Knausgård

“Sometimes I saw what Espen and I did through Yngve’s eyes, then we were transformed into two nerds sitting alone and reading…

— Karl Ove Knausgård

“There is only one thing children find harder to hold back than tears, and that is joy.”

— Karl Ove Knausgård