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Peter Handke Quotes

Peter Handke is an Austrian novelist, playwright and translator. His writings about the Yugoslav Wars and subsequent NATO bombing of Yugoslavia with criticism of the Western position and his speech at the funeral of Slobodan Milošević have caused controversy, and he has been widely described as an apologist for far-right Serbian nationalism. He has been awarded the Georg Büchner Prize, the Franz Kafka Prize and the International Ibsen Award; the latter award was extremely controversial and Handke was met by protesters in Oslo and widely described by critics in Norwegian media as a fascist with ties to war criminals. In 2006 his nomination for the Heinrich Heine Prize caused a scandal, and the prize was withdrawn due to his political views.



✵ 6. December 1942
Peter Handke photo
Peter Handke: 9 quotes11 likes

Famous Peter Handke Quotes

“If a nation loses its storytellers, it loses its childhood.”

Peter Handke

“Proud of my near-madness, as if I had attained a goal.”

Peter Handke

Source: Das Gewicht der Welt [The Weight of the World], p. 16

“A fine thing: suddenly to forget about one’s history, one’s past, to stop feeling that one’s present happiness is endangered by what one used to be.”

Peter Handke

Source: Das Gewicht der Welt [The Weight of the World], p. 7

“The main thing:… not to let myself be defined by history, not to take it as an excuse—despise it in those who hide their personal insignificance behind it—and yet know it, in order to understand people and above all to see through them”

Peter Handke

my hatred of history as a refuge for be-nothings
Source: Das Gewicht der Welt [The Weight of the World], p. 11

“Tense, unnerved, and close to madness before writing—and when I read what I’ve written it looks so calm.”

Peter Handke

Source: Das Gewicht der Welt [The Weight of the World], p. 16

“My way of thinking is often so wrong, so untenable, because I think as if I were talking to someone else.”

Peter Handke

Source: Das Gewicht der Welt [The Weight of the World], p. 9

“I was no longer superficial — I had stopped thinking.”

Peter Handke

Ich hörte auf, oberflächlich zu sein — ich dachte nichts mehr
Source: Das Gewicht der Welt [The Weight of the World], p. 5

“I was angry at her for not being what I wanted.”

Peter Handke

Source: Das Gewicht der Welt [The Weight of the World], p. 14

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