When good befalls a man he calls it Providence, when evil fate. Knut Hamsun More Quotes by Knut Hamsun More Quotes From Knut Hamsun In old age we are like a batch of letters that someone has sent. We are no longer in the past, we have arrived. Knut Hamsun ageletterspast Do not forget, some give little, and it is much for them, others give all, and it costs them no effort; who then has given most? Knut Hamsun effortcostgiving The writer must be able to revel and roll in the abundance of words; he must know not only the direct but also the secret power of a word. There are overtones and undertones to a word, and lateral echoes, too. Knut Hamsun echoesablesecret Truth is neither ojectivity nor the balanced view; truth is a selfless subjectivity. Knut Hamsun subjectivityselflessviews No worse fate can befall a young man or woman than becoming prematurely entrenched in prudence and negation. Knut Hamsun fatebecomingmen I love three things," I then say. "I love a dream of love I once had, I love you, and I love this patch of earth." "And which do you love best?" "The dream. Knut Hamsun threedreamlove-you But what really matters is not what you believe but the faith and conviction with which you believe. Knut Hamsun convictionmatterbelieve An increasing number of people who lead mental lives of great intensity, people who are sensitive by nature, notice the steadily more frequent appearance in them of mental states of great strangeness ... a wordless and irrational feeling of ecstasy; or a breath of psychic pain; a sense of being spoken to from afar, from the sky or the sea; an agonizingly developed sense of hearing which can cause one to wince at the murmuring of unseen atoms; an irrational staring into the heart of some closed kingdom suddenly and briefly revealed. Knut Hamsun painseaheart There are some people who cannot help giving. Why? Because they experience a real psychological pleasure in doing so. They don't do it with an eye to their own advantage, they do it on the quiet; they detest doing it openly because that would take away some of the satisfaction. They do it in secret, with quick trembling hands, their breasts rocked by a spiritual well being which they do not themselves understand. Knut Hamsun eyerealspiritual Language must resound with all the harmonies of music. The writer must always, at all times, find the tremulous word which captures the thing and is able to draw a sob from my soul by its very rightness. Knut Hamsun ablelanguagesoul Earth and sea merged, the sea tossed itself in the air in a fantastic dance, into the shapes of men and horses and tattered banners. I stood in the lee of an overhanging rock and thought of many things. Knut Hamsun horsenaturemen But things worked out. Everything works out. Though sometimes they work out sideways. Knut Hamsun sidewayswork-outsometimes Love is every bit as violent and dangerous as murder. Knut Hamsun violentmurderlove-is A word can be transformed into a coulour, light, a smell; it is the writer's task to use it in such a way that it serves, never fails, can never be ignored. Knut Hamsun smelltaskslight But now the world breaks in on us, the world is shocked, the world looks upon our idyll as madness. The world maintains that no rational man or woman would have chosen this way of life - therefore, it is madness. Alone I confront them and tell them that nothing could be saner or truer! What do people really know about life? We fall in line, follow the pattern established by our mentors. Everything is based on assumptions; even time, space, motion, matter are nothing but supposition. The world has no new knowledge to impart; it merely accepts what is there. Knut Hamsun spacemenfall In my solitude, many miles from men and houses, I am in a childishly happy and carefree state of mind, which you are incapable of understanding unless someone explains it to you Knut Hamsun understandinghousemen Do you know what constitutes a great poet? He is a person without shame, incapable of blushing. Ordinary fools have moments when they go off by themselves and blush with shame; not so the great poet.... If you really have to quote someone, quote a geographer; that way you won't give yourself away. (p 44) Knut Hamsun ordinarygivingway The intelligent poor individual was a much finer observer than the intelligent rich one. The poor individual looks around him at every step, listens suspiciously to every word he hears from the people he meets; thus, every step he takes presents a problem, a task, for his thoughts and feelings. He is alert and sensitive, he is experienced, his soul has been burned. Knut Hamsun intelligentsoulpeople And the great spirit of darkness spread a shroud over me...everything was silent-everything. But upon the heights soughed the everlasting song, the voice of the air, the distant, toneless humming which is never silent. Knut Hamsun voiceairsong There is nothing like being left alone again, to walk peacefully with oneself in the woods. To boil one's coffee and fill one's pipe, and to think idly and slowly as one does it. Knut Hamsun coffeedoethinking
