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Robert Walser
10 quotes
“Ruins are rather touching. Before the residues of noble things our pensive, sensitive inward selves involuntarily bow. The remnants of what was once distinguished, refined, and brilliant, infuse us with compassion, but simultaneously also with respect. Bygone days and old decrepitude, how enchanting you are!”
Robert Walser (1878–1956) first seen 1918 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Frau Wilke" (1918), Poetenlebun, later translated into English and collected in The Walk and Other Stories (1957) and Selected Stories (1982)
“I don't want a future; I want a present. That seems more valuable to me.”
Robert Walser (1878–1956) first seen 1907 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A character in The Tanners (1907), translated by Susan Bernofsky in 2009.
“Hey, writer! Jesus! What's wrong with you? Are you insane? What's wrong with me? Nothing at all, nothing at all. Please! And I am not in the least insane. I beg a thousand pardons but may I dare maintain that I am completely fine. I am totally normal and reliable in every respect [...]”
Robert Walser (1878–1956) first seen 1917 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: All Right Then" (1917), collected in w:A Schoolboy's Diary (2013), translated by Damion Searls.
“I am thrilled to be writing a report on such a delicate subject as trousers [...]”
Robert Walser (1878–1956) first seen 1911 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Trousers" (1911), collected in Selected Stories
“When the car arrives, you climb aboard, possibly after first politely ceding the right of way to an imposing gentlewoman, and then the car continues on. At once you notice you have a rather musical disposition. The most delicate melodies are parading through your head.”
Robert Walser (1878–1956) first seen 1908 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In the Electric Tram" (1908), collected in Berlin Stories
“The idler is better off: he need not run and need not fear that the express train will pull out right under his nose. "I was just about to get on when, so help me God, that black devil of a train took off right past my hat." This is the sort of thing uttered by travelers with boarding intentions, but not by the person whose aim it is to blithely, quietly observe.”
Robert Walser (1878–1956) first seen 1907 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Something About the Railway" (1907), collected in Berlin Stories
“I am a little worn out, raddled, squashed, downtrodden, shot full of holes. Mortars have mortared me to bits. I am a little crumbly, decaying, yes, yes. [...] "You are nervous," someone might tell me, and I would reply cold-bloodedly, "My dear sir, I know that quite well, I know that I am a little worn out and nervous." And I would smile, very nobly and coolly, while saying this, which would perhaps annoy the other person a little.”
Robert Walser (1878–1956) first seen 1916 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Nervous" (1916), collected in Berlin Stories
“Uninterrupted writing fatiques, like digging.”
Robert Walser (1878–1956) first seen 1917 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Walk" (1917, novella), originally Der Spaziergang, later collected in The Walk and Other Stories (1957), Selected Stories (1982), and The Walk (2012), translated by Christopher Middleton and Susan Bernofsky.
“I hope no estrangement will ensue if I say that I am writing all these I trust pretty sentences, letters, and lines with a quill from the Imperial High Court of Justice. Hence my brevity, pregnancy, and acumen, possibly at certain points well enough perceptible, at which nobody need wonder anymore.”
Robert Walser (1878–1956) first seen 1917 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Walk (1917)
“At any time the predilection for flowers can deteriorate into a decided foolish mania.”
Robert Walser (1878–1956) first seen 1917 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Walk (1917)