Elias Canetti: Quotes about life

Elias Canetti was Bulgarian-born Swiss and British jewish modernist novelist, playwright, memoirist, and non-fiction writer. Explore interesting quotes on life.
Elias Canetti: 86 quotes11 likes

““Life experience” does not amount to very much and could be learned from novels alone, e. g., from Balzac, without any help from life.”

Elias Canetti

J. Agee, trans. (1989), p. 107
Das Geheimherz der Uhr [The Secret Heart of the Clock] (1987)

“I was never drawn to experiment with language; I take note of such experiments, but avoid them in my own writing. The reason is that the substance of life claims me completely. To indulge in linguistic experiments is to ignore the greater part of this substance, leaving all but a tiny portion untouched and unused, as if a musician were to ceaselessly play an instrument with his little finger only.”

Elias Canetti

J. Agee, trans. (1989), p. 3
Das Geheimherz der Uhr [The Secret Heart of the Clock] (1987)

“The story of your youth must not turn into a catalog of what became important in your later life. It must also contain the dissipation, the failure, and the waste.”

Elias Canetti

J. Agee, trans. (1989), p. 29
Das Geheimherz der Uhr [The Secret Heart of the Clock] (1987)