Quotes by Friedrich Durrenmatt

About Friedrich Durrenmatt:

Friedrich Dürrenmatt was a Swiss author and dramatist. He was a proponent of epic theatre whose plays reflected the recent experiences of World War II. The politically active author's work included avant-garde dramas, philosophical crime novels, and macabre satire. Dürrenmatt was a member of the Gruppe Olten.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Before anything else, we need a new age of Enlightenment. Our present political systems must relinquish their claims on truth, justice and freedom and have to replace them with the search for truth, justice, freedom and reason.

Friedrich Durrenmatt

Pretend to be dumb, that's the only way to reach old age.

Friedrich Durrenmatt

So then learn to conquer your fear. This is the only art we have to master nowadays: to look at things without fear, and to fearlessly do right.

Friedrich Durrenmatt

The art of the cuisine, when fully mastered, is the one human capability of which only good things can be said.

Friedrich Durrenmatt

A lesson for all of us is that for every loss, there is victory, for every sadness, there is joy, and when you think you’ve lost everything, there is hope.

Friedrich Durrenmatt

...he had read von Lambert's book on terrorism, there were two pages devoted to the Arab resistance movement, von Lambert refused to call them terrorists, which didn't preclude, and he had emphasized this, that nonterrorists were also capable of atro...

Friedrich Durrenmatt

Now it was just the two of us, Max and me. And about a thousand other people around us.

Friedrich Durrenmatt

The citizens of Ludania would finally be free, no longer forced into a class system that determined what language they could speak, what jobs they could do, or who they could be

Friedrich Durrenmatt

There is no greater cruelty than a genius stumbling over something idiotic.

Friedrich Durrenmatt

Eden will stay with you." I glanced up at the blue-haired woman who watched us. "She promises to take good care of you. Right, Eden?" Eden nodded, curt and no-nonsense, a soldier to the bones. I glanced back at Angelina. "You trust her, don't you?" A...

Friedrich Durrenmatt

He stood straight then, moving to stand directly in front of me as he dropped low and bowed dramatically. "Your Majesty.

Friedrich Durrenmatt

Der Mensch ist für mich ein Wesen, das nur durch paradoxe, komödiantische Mittel, Formen, dargestellt werden kann, denn der Mensch geht nicht auf wie eine Rechnung, und wo der Mensch so aufgeht, ist die Rechnung sicher gefälscht.

Friedrich Durrenmatt

I pledge to keep you safe.

Friedrich Durrenmatt

A major power can afford a military debacle only when it looks like a political victory.

Friedrich Durrenmatt

Only the freedom of mind can prevent the state from becoming totalitarian and from issuing totalitarian demands.

Friedrich Durrenmatt

The freedom of each individual can only be the freedom of all.

Friedrich Durrenmatt

Emotions have no place in business, unless you do business with them.

Friedrich Durrenmatt

Revolutions demand enormous sacrifices and, at the same time, create a new need to change the world again.

Friedrich Durrenmatt

Whoever is content with the world, and who profits from its lack of justice, does not want to change it.

Friedrich Durrenmatt

News reports don't change the world. Only facts change it, and those have already happened when we get the news.

Friedrich Durrenmatt

Author Bio

  • NameFriedrich Durrenmatt
  • DescriptionSwiss author and dramatist
  • BornJanuary 5, 1921
  • DiedDecember 14, 1990
  • CountrySwitzerland
  • ProfessionPlaywright; Writer; Painter
  • WorksThe Physicists; The Visit
  • AwardsAustrian State Prize For European Literature; Georg Büchner Prize; Schiller Memorial Prize;