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

The world is bad but not without hope. It is only hopeless when you look at it from an ideal viewpoint.

Friedrich Durrenmatt

Someone who is about to die does not mourn the dead.

Friedrich Durrenmatt

Everything that is necessary is also easy. You just have to accept it. And the most necessary, the most natural matter on this planet is death.

Friedrich Durrenmatt

When death has you by the throat, you don't mince words.

Friedrich Durrenmatt

Who sows fear, reaps weapons.

Friedrich Durrenmatt

I am a man, and God is hiding from us humans. We are unable to see Him, we can only search for Him.

Friedrich Durrenmatt

Human life is beyond comprehension.

Friedrich Durrenmatt

Everything in the world can be changed, my dear Florestan, but the human being.

Friedrich Durrenmatt

The worst possible turn can not be programmed. It is caused by coincidence.

Friedrich Durrenmatt

For people who have no critical acumen, a state is a mythical entity, for those who think critically it is a rational fiction, created by man in order to facilitate human coexistence.

Friedrich Durrenmatt

A state always calls itself fatherland when it is ready for murder.

Friedrich Durrenmatt

The difference between humans and wild animals is that humans pray before they commit murder.

Friedrich Durrenmatt

The rightful claim to dissent is an existential right of the individual.

Friedrich Durrenmatt

There are risks which are not acceptable: the destruction of humanity is one of them.

Friedrich Durrenmatt

It is surely easier to confess a murder over a cup of coffee than in front of a jury.

Friedrich Durrenmatt

This inhuman world has to become more humane. But how?

Friedrich Durrenmatt

Communism is a proposition to structure the world more reasonably, a proposition for changing the world. As such, we have to analyze it and, if we deem it reasonable, act upon it.

Friedrich Durrenmatt

Without tolerance, our world turns into hell.

Friedrich Durrenmatt

A story is not finished, until it took the worst turn.

Friedrich Durrenmatt

For a person who is dying only eternity counts.

Friedrich Durrenmatt

Today's Communism can survive only if it abandons the myth of an infallible party, if it continues to think, and if it becomes democratic.

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;