Lion Feuchtwanger Quotations

Ever since my youth it has disturbed me that of the literary works that survived their own epoch, so many dealt with historical rather than contemporary subjects.

Asking the author of historical novels to teach you about history is like expecting the composer of a melody to provide answers about radio transmission.

I have always made an effort to render every detail of my reality with the greatest accuracy; but I have never paid attention to whether my presentation of historical facts was an exact one.

An author who sets about to depict events of the past that have run their course is suspected of wishing to avoid the problems of the present day, of being, in other words, a reactionary.

Both the historian and the novelist view history as the struggle of a tiny minority, able and determined to make judgments, which is up against a vast and densely packed majority of the blind, who are led by their instincts and unable to think for themselves.

It is only the strong who are strengthened by suffering; the weak are made weaker.

I should add that it is open to debate whether what we call the writing of history these days is truly scientific.

After closely examining my conscience, I venture to state that in my historical novels I intended the content to be just as modern and up-to-date as in the contemporary ones.

There's only a step from the sublime to the ridiculous, but there's no road leading from the ridiculous to the sublime.

From depicting the past, so goes the suspicion, it is a short step to glorifying the past.